


Crave

by MyChemicalKlance



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, College, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Relationships, Explicit Language, Family Issues, Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Holidays, Keith is half Korean, Korean Keith (Voltron), Latino Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mama Sanchez is a delight, Pining, Underage Drinking, Voltron, a little angst and then fluff central, hinted at depression, hunk is too, i am a shy baby, i want it to all be fluff, klance, maybe smut?, minimal angst, not sure about that, pidge is well pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2018-07-27 11:11:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 101,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7615795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyChemicalKlance/pseuds/MyChemicalKlance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith is a loose tempered yet determined aspiring pilot who has has perfected the art of solitude and wearing too much black. Lance is a loud-mouthed, vibrant, self proclaimed ladies man who doesn't realize the entire world is not as keen on his abrasive personality as he might believe. They both feel like they're on their last chances at finding their places, their futures, their homes, their destinies. What they don't know...maybe that place could be each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Smooth Moves

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Voltron fans and maybe #Klance shippers! This is a Voltron College AU story surrounding Keith and mostly Lance, but the other team members too. Keith planned to coast through this year being as quiet and focused as possible, however he starts finding it more and more difficult to maintain as a certain group of students force their way into his life.
> 
>  
> 
> Come say hi to me on tumblr if you want http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith Kogane is starting a new school...again...even though this time it's his last chance to get his shit together if he wants to be a pilot one day. The second he walks onto campus though, an unlikely character, The Lance Sanzhez to be exact, somehow manages to squirm into Keith's business and makes quite the first impression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is being added way after I first posted this chapter. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has said nice things about the fic and anyone who has read it. I've never written a fic before, so I have no clue what i'm doing but i' trying to give justice to Klance, which is currently my favorite ship, ever. 
> 
> If you want to say hey, I have a Voltron/Fanart/Ship blog ( http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com) and I have a main blog that I use all the time, mostly for indulging my emo trash self ( http://bubzywubzy.tumblr.com)

Keith has been to countless schools and a myriad of homes throughout his life, the result of being an orphan deemed "troublesome" by the age of four. Sitting in the yellow taxi cab, watching the vast desert landscape of California transform into a quaint, colorful city, small restaurants and shops taking the place of sand and trees, he thinks to himself that this one won't be any different. He may be across the country breathing hot, arid air in replace of the chilling air of Vermont, he may be 20 now, and older and wiser (at least he thinks) than every other time he started a new life, but he knows it will all be the same. Different place, different people, different fights, same feelings, same struggles, same loneliness.

Keith has forgotten how long he's been in the taxi cab, the monotony of the desert putting him in a trance. He would have sat there like that forever had the taxi cab driver not starting speaking.

"Already buddy, your stops coming up on the right. The ol' University-yah know, my Pappy went there back in the day. Was the smartest man in the family he was, still is. I bet your'e smarter though, all of them technologies you kids have access to these days, you could probably figure out how to work a goddamned alien spaceship with that google."

Keith snapped out of it and momentarily considered asking the old man what he had just said but he was becoming increasingly aware of the unpleasantness of the taxi cab. It stunk like cigarettes and whatever else a twenty year old cab that's driven hundreds, maybe thousands of people, smells like. Had this old guy been talking to him the whole time? Why did he call Keith his buddy? Eh, maybe he was just being nice. The second the cab pulled up at the entrance of the school, Keith jumped out of the back door, and started grabbing his bags from the already popped trunk. He quickly returned to the front window, handed the man the exorbitant cab fee in cash and reluctantly shook the old man's outstretched hand. Even if it had only been a few hours, and with a horribly mustached, smelly cab driver with an antiquated stereo system that only played country music and recordings of BINGO tournaments, Keith had appreciated being treated like a friend to this stranger. But reality kicks in and once again Keith was alone, standing in front of a new school and trying intensely not to be intimidated by the prospects that lay ahead. This was his last chance of being anything close to happy.

Keith grabbed his bags and began the struggle of finding and getting to his dorm. The University had sent him an email with his dorm building and room number, which he printed out and shoved somewhere, but where? After walking another 15 minutes towards the center of campus, Keith dropped all of his bags on the grass and plopped down on top of them, sweat dripping down his neck and in a multitude of other places. He muttered to himself about the stupid California sun and his stupid red leather jacket that he had insisted on wearing everywhere, and the overwhelming amount of black clothing that he also wore religiously. He reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone and when the screen lit up there were no texts, no calls, no contact of any sort from the few people that he did speak to. He pulled up the email with his dorm information and had no idea where to begin looking for it. He decided just to lay down on his bags and close his eyes, not caring that he was sprawled out in the middle of the mall that surrounded the campus’ central library. 

He began to drift off when he heard a loud slap followed by a girl yelling, spitting words at a mile a minute. Probably some dumb ass getting told off by his girlfriend. Out of curiosity Keith peeked from under neath his bangs that hid most of his eyes, and locked on to the scene. Yep, just as he predicted, a pretty blonde girl was now stomping off in the opposite direction of some jerk who’s leaning up against a tree about 15 feet away. He’s yelling back about he didn’t mean it like that and other bullshit. 

Keith didn’t realize he had been staring more intently at the scene then he had thought. He was now sitting up and watching as this kid got totally rejected from a beautiful girl, and then proceeded to embarrass himself further by spouting out insincere apologies. His face must have shown his obvious disgust for the jerk lord because the kid was now standing in front of him and speaking. 

“ Uhh, sorry if that disturbed you from whatever it is you’re doing here, on the ground, in the middle of the mall…Umm, it wasn’t as bad as it looked, I promise. I just came over cus you looked kind of pissed, actually you look more pissed than her.” The jerk-kid-douche-loser chuckles to himself and smirks at Keith waiting for a response. Not being able to stand silence for more than ten seconds, the rejectee also points out that Keith "was kind of being rude by staring so he really should be the one apologizing." 

By this point Keith is entirely absent from the conversation, lost in the weird situation that he has put himself into. He finally gets a good look at the kid and realizes that he doesn’t look like a typical ladies man, jerk type. In fact he looks kind of dorky, average at best. He is the definition of lanky. Keith figured he had to be at least 6,2 maybe 6,3 and his body was fairly thin, but not entirely scrawny. He had dark olive skin, short hazel hair and deep blue eyes and he wore jeans, a Star Wars t-shirt and vans that had some kind of tropical pattern on them. Keith realized he had probably been spacing out again and tried to remember what the guy just said to him. 

“Ehhm, I didn’t realize you we’re talking to me. I guess you saw me watching you get rejected by that girl.” The mystery kid’s jaw dropped at Keith’s blunt response. 

“Ouch! Blunt. Much. But I guess you could say that’s what happened, even though I’m pretty sure she was just scared to go out with someone as cool as me.” He gestures to himself and Keith fails to hold back a scoff. 

“ It looked like you were just being a jerk to me.” Keith bluntly points out again.

“Man, you’re really not one to hold back opinions. Noted. Being totally honest, I was going out on a limb talking to her again after I set her shirt on fire in chemistry lab last semester and she obviously hasn’t recovered so I was half expecting the slap. I’m Lance by the way, and you are?”

“Keith” Keith decided he would play along with the conversation instead of ignore Lance like he usually would. He didn’t really want to know this kid’s whole life story but he decided he could at least be nice enough to get him to help find his dorm. 

“Well, Keith, I normally wouldn’t help random guys with mullets that call me out on my romance techniques, however, I might make an exception for you. You got a shit ton of bags.” 

Keith processed if he should be offended or grateful by that statement and went with the latter. Might as well milk this kid for his help.

“Actually, yeah, maybe you could help me find my dorm?” 

Lance looked at Keith intensely for a second. “You look kind of old to be a freshman.”

“Oh, I’m actually a sophomore, but I transferred schools so I don’t know where anything is.”

Lance immediately grabbed two of Keith’s bags. “ Mmmkay so what dorm are you in? We gotta get going cause this campus is huge and Hunk’s waiting for me to go to the cafeteria.”

“Um the building is called the...Nebula building? Who or what is a Hunk?”

“Hey, that’s my dorm!” Lance quickly turned on the balls of his feet and began walking, more like jogging to the left of the mall. 

Keith grabbed the rest of his bags and hurried to catch up with Lance. The few extra inches of height Lance had on Keith made it difficult to keep up with him, despite Keith’s athleticism. 

Lance looked behind his shoulder to see if Keith had followed him and at the same time Keith looked up, making awkward eye contact with him that lasted a fraction of a second too long for either of their comforts. 

“Hunk is my roommate. We’ve known each other since high school. He’s pretty much opposite from me in every way except for that we both love pizza, and we’re both planning on going to the Galaxy Garrison together.” 

Keith is trying to keep up with Lance as he practically glides up a flight of stairs, taking two at a time. Competitiveness taking over, he decides he doesn’t want the string bean to beat him so he speeds up, leading by one stair. He realizes what Lance just said.  
“Wait, y-y-you are in the space program?”

Lance looks slightly offended, “Yeah, I just said that. Are you?”

Keith nods. Lance mumbles out an “cool”. Both boys are silent for a minute until they find themselves standing in front of a large modern building that says Nebula on the front. Lance swipes a card at the door and it clicks open. He holds the door with his foot while Keith squishes through the entrance with his bags.

“Dude, think you brought enough shit? Don’t tell me these are all filled with black t’shirts?” Lance says as he smirks, his blue eyes gazing at Keith’s almost entirely black ensemble from dirty black converse up to the collar of one of his many black band shirts.

Keith finds himself blushing, something he doesn’t think he’s ever done in his whole life. 

“Shut up. It’s mostly just towels and blankets and stuff.” Lance revels in Keith’s reaction, deciding he is already his new favorite person to mess with. 

“Well, what room number are you?”

“511”

“Wow, you’re on my floor too. I’m in 527. I guess it’s cause we’re in the same program.” 

Again, Lance bounds down the hall without warning and Keith follows. They reach the elevator and get on. Lance starts talking to another guy on the elevator and introduces him to Keith as another floor mate. When the other guy gets off Lance leans over to Keith and tells him not to go in that guy’s dorm unless he wants to smell like pot for a week straight. Keith would have been more off put about the comment had he not noticed how uncomfortably close Lance was to him in this cramped elevator. Does this kid have any personal space boundaries? Keith almost felt inclined to push Lance away, they just met like 20 minutes ago, and he was sweaty and hot. The ding of the elevator saved him from making an ass of himself on the first day of school, well so far. 

Without fail, Lance once again bounds out of the elevator and down the hall. Keith battles with the elevator door as it repeatedly tries to close on him while he gets the bags out. 

“Keith, Your room is right here!” Lance yells down the hallway. 

Keith fishes for his key card and swipes it in the door. It clicks and he enters the empty room. 

Lance and Keith throw the bags onto the floor beside the bed and Lance reaches his arms over his head, stretching out his back over dramatically. 

“Man that was tiring. I should charge you for my services.” He smirks again at Keith and elbows him in the shoulder.

Keith just shoots him a glare for elbowing him and then his face changes to a softer state. 

“Yeah, sorry about all the bags I guess…Oh and thanks for helping and showing me around.”  
Lance just shrugs and mumbles out a “no problem” 

The conversation is interrupted when a voices erupt from the hall. Lance pops his head out the door and sees Hunk and his other friend Pidge fighting over some kind of device. 

“Oh, hey I better go break them up, Pidge gets pretty feisty when Hunk takes his-their things. Wouldn’t want him to get beat up before the first day of classes.” Lance runs out of the dorm room towards the bickering students and grabs the device only to run down the hall with it yelling “It’s mine now!!!”

Keith sighs and plops onto the bed, disregarding the bags that are sprawled all over the room. At least he is finally alone now. He falls asleep on the empty mattress for what seemed like only seconds until a pillow is thrown at his face. He tosses the pillow off, face turning red with aggravation and he sees Lance leaning against the doorway with the same smug face he seems to always have. Before Keith can say anything, Lance interrupts-

“Come on, you can sleep later, don’t you want to meet Hunk? Oh and Pidge? They’re in my dorm.” Lance grabs Keith’s wrist and drags him out of the room, completely oblivious to Keith’s increasingly obvious annoyance. 

As Lance charges down the hallway, Keith’s wrist tight in his grip, Keith wonders what he did to deserve this kind of torture. Lance on the other hand tosses around two trains of thought. One, what other ways can he bug the living crap out of Keith. He was getting kind of bored messing with the same people over and over. Not that putting his special hot sauce in Hunk's food and watching him flail around the room really ever gets old, but Keith and his emo hair are practically asking for some quality pranking. The other train of thought confuses Lance more so than the first. Why is Keith making him so damn nervous? No one makes Lance lose his "cool", but his hands are practically turning to butter around Keith's wrist. Lance shakes the thought when him and Keith reach the opened door to his dorm. He's probably just still shaken up about actually getting slapped in the face by a girl (which was surprisingly the first time it happened) and Keith, his new classmate and competition, being there to witness Lance's stupidity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the first chapter guys. There might be a few grammatical issues and stuff but it's 1 am right now and I don't want to fix it so it might have to wait until tomorrow. An hour into college and Keith is already being bombarded by the seemingly most annoying guy in the galaxy. What else could go wrong?
> 
> Eww, I'm rereading this chapter and I can already tell how much my writing has changed since I started this. The tenses switch around a lot (which I might fix later). We've come a long way in almost fifteen chapters


	2. Grape Soda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Keith thought that he was going to unpack quietly in his dorm the day before classes started, he was entirely wrong. In the first hour of being at the University his plans have been completely hijacked by Lance, Hunk and Pidge who decide to give him the hidden tour of campus that he never asked for. Even though Lance has tried to be friendly with Keith, he realizes that the feat may be easier said than done when they get into an argument serious enough to jeopardize any friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty useless, but I kind of like when fics just have mundane moments without too much drama. Plus, Lance and Keith don't know enough about each other yet to really "hate" each other. Also, I forgot how hard it is to write what I actually want to say. I haven't written anything since high school so this may take me a couple chapters to get back in the swing of writing. Side note two, writing in third person is annoying.

Lance stops abruptly at the open door to his room which consequently sends a non expectant Keith slamming into his side, grabbing fistfuls of Lance’s t shirt to avoid falling over.

“Hey this is my favorite T shirt man!”

Keith gains his balance and immediately let’s go of Lance’s shirt, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking straight down at his shoes to avoid anyone seeing his flustered apearance.

Still facing the ground he spits out an annoyed, “Yeah well warn me next time!” He really hopes there isn’t a next time though.

“Star Trek’s better any ways…” Keith mumbles

Lance lets out an obnoxiously long gasp and points a finger at Keith.

“Take that back! I can’t believe you would stoop that low. Pshhh, comparing Star Trek to the cinematic masterpiece that is the Star Wars movie franchise. Pshhhh.”

Lance continues spattering out points about how Star Wars is apparently better than Star Trek in every conceivable way, but by this point Keith has checked out. Lance has said more words in this last thirty-seconds than Keith thinks he has ever heard in one conversation. On top of that, as if Lance hadn’t already encroached on Keith’s personal bubble enough in the hour that he has known him, he has now entirely invaded the bubble, taken it over and popped it. His arms are flailing, making gestures that resemble spaceships flying, and Keith’s pretty sure the matching sound effects have exposed him to more Lance spit than anyone would care to endure. He wonders if Lance has any kind of off switch that he can use to disable him. At some point or another he even tried to grab Keith’s hair to make Leia buns until Keith grabbed his wrist and threatened to break it if he made another move.

That shut up Lance for all of ten-seconds.

“Sheesh man, you’re kinda touchy huh? I get it, I get it, Trekkies are super serious about their fandom or whatever. But-“ Lance points a finger at Keith “I shall convert you to the light side by the end of the year.” Keith just rolled his eyes. If anything was impressive about Lance it was his blind persistence.

With that, Lance finally enters the dorm where Hunk and Pidge are giggling about what just happened, sitting on the blue and yellow bean bags that host Lance and Hunk's butts when they pull all nighter gaming tournaments. Keith reluctantly follows Lance in, taking in the chaos that is Lance’s dorm. He can already guess which side is Hunk’s and which side is Lance’s. Hunk’s side of the dorm is fairly clean with mostly yellow and orange decor. His bedspread is kind of a psychedelic pattern of orange and yellow squares on a navy blue background. There’s lots of pillows on the bed and the wall next to it has one very well cared for poster of Uma Thurman from Kill Bill. Unexpected, Keith thought to himself, given Hunk's big friendly giant kind of aura he kind of gives off. Hunk's night stand is pretty much just a yellow lava lamp and an array of snacks covering the surface of the table. When Keith shifts his eyes over to the other side of the room his eyes are assaulted by the mess that is Lance’s bed. The entire bed is basically a pile of clothes (hopefully clean, they did just move in for the semester) over top of what looks like a blue and gray bedspread. In the corner of the bed is a raggedy Simba stuffed animal wearing a red cape. Keith makes a note to make fun of him about it later. All over the wall are pictures taped up of maybe Lance’s family and friends. There are also quite a few posters of who’d a guessed it, Star Wars and some comic book characters. Lance walks over to the night stand and grabs an old pair of pilot goggles and puts them on so that they sit just on the top of his head with his short bangs pushed through the front and on his forehead. Hunk mentions that he wears them around quite often but he won't tell anyone why. Apparently, last year Pidge made up an elaborate plan called Operation Goggle Elimination, but Lance found out about it proceeded to prank the two relentlessly for months, so they abandoned the project and now they just let him wear the damn things. By this point Keith is pretty sure he has enough blackmail on this kid to torment him all year if need be, but Lance doesn't really look phased by his friend's jokes anyways.

After the giggling and making Lance look like a nerd in front of his new "cool" friend, Hunk and Pidge finally introduce themselves and offer Keith a grape soda from Hunk’s mini fridge.

“You should feel honored that Hunk’s giving you access to the Fridge of Wonder. Only a select few can be deemed worthy. It is like a total token of trust.” Pidge explains to Keith while tossing over a soda to Lance and then popping their's open.

Without even asking, Hunk and Pidge start telling Keith bits about themselves as if they have already accepted him into the circle of trust. Keith would normally spend hours wracking his brain around why they would be so open to a total stranger, but he can barely think right now with all of the information being thrown at him. It is like every first day of school he should have properly experienced thrown at him once. All the get to know you worksheets, the sharing exercises, the stupid circles where you have to remember everyone’s names, we’re now being assigned to Keith, who is growing more and more intimidated by the second.

Hunk mentions something about his family originally being from Hawaii, and then moving to Miami where he met Lance, and then moving to California before college. He likes cooking weird dishes and forcing Lance and Pidge to eat them whether they like it or not. He’s in the space program too, but hoping to be an engineer. Pidge is a little more reluctant to talk about their childhood. Instead Pidge skips to the part where they skipped several grades and started college at 15, hoping to be some sort of engineer or computer scientist at the Garrison. Of course, Keith doesn’t press any information from anyone, hoping that in return he won’t have to give his depressing spiel about his horrible life and how he’s basically here as a last chance to escape this god awful planet.

Lance had been so quiet for the time that Hunk and Pidge talked about themselves that Keith almost forgot that the annoying jerk was even there. That was until Lance stood up abruptly and started whining that he was starving, putting his hand over his forehead and rubbing his stomach like a child.

“As much as I love hearing your guys’ life stories for the hundredth times, I thought we were gonna go get something to eat!” Lance whines again and then “faints” onto the ground like an even smaller child. Keith rolls his eyes, for the millionth time today, behind his curtain of black hair.

Keith thinks it was strange that Lance didn’t say anything about himself at all (besides his love for Star Wars apparently). He thought for sure the guy would have been pining to tell the whole world everything about how great he was. Keith wouldn’t be surprised if a spot light was installed in the dorm just for that specific purpose. He was avoiding talking about himself. Maybe he didn’t so easily trust Keith like the others. Maybe Keith had already pissed him off enough to push even Lance, the shameless social butterfly of the group, away from him.

Hunk and Pidge push themselves off of the bean bags and unanimously state that they are starving too.

Once again without Keith’s input he is being dragged by, now three people, out of the room. This time Keith manages to get them to release their grips from his precious red jacket. If he had to be “friends” with them, they needed to learn now that Keith doesn’t like being touched, and he definitely doesn’t like being dragged around.

The walk to the cafeteria is pretty uneventful. While walking back through the mall, Lance and Keith recreate the rejection scene from earlier down to the slap in the face at the end, which Keith is more than happy to reenact.

“ Ouch Keith! I didn’t think you were actually gonna slap me that hard.” Lance whines, cupping his now bright red cheek in his hand.

“I was just trying to make it realistic. That girl wasn’t holding back.” Keith retorts.

“You’re gonna owe me if my face gets a bruise. This is prime real estate, top of the line merchandise…girls can’t get enough of this face.”

 

Lance is making stupid kissy faces now and Keith’s attempts to hold back a chuckle fails. He can’t help it as his lips curl up and he legitimately laughs for the first time in a long time. Lance smirks back at him at his achievement, somehow knowing that Keith isn’t one to smile very often. Keith promises that he’ll do whatever Lance wants if he actually gets rejected because of his face being “damaged.”

Next, Hunk, Pidge and Lance show Keith where the best food is on campus, in their opinions. At the North campus diner there is a small burger stand that has apparently been there for fifty years and is run by this little old lady named Norma. They ask for four of “the usuals” and five minutes later Norma brings out a tray of massive burgers with fries and four chocolate shakes. They all devour the burgers and sit amongst the rubble of wrappers and empty cups, unable to move.

Lance finally stands up from his seat and claims that there is one more thing they need to show Keith on his mini tour of the campus. Keith, Hunk and Pidge grunt in annoyance but they get up and follow Lance any ways because they know he won’t be dissuaded now.

 

Keith runs up towards Lance, the two of them several feet ahead of Hunk and Pidge who are trying to catch Pokemon while walking through the crowds of students now buzzing around campus

“Um, you know you don’t really have to do all of this. It’s nice and all, but-“ Lance cuts him off,  
“Keith, just accept that some people might actually want to hang out with you, despite that tragic hair style. Just because you act all like you’re a lone wolf or some shit, doesn’t mean you actually have a choice whether other people like you.” Keith tries to find a reply but Lance interjects again, “Look I don’t really know you that well, and you may not want to hang out with us, or, well me, after today, but the least you can let me do is show you around campus, you know, make the first day memorable. You already got to see me get horribly rejected in the middle of campus, so the day can really only get better for both of us.”

Keith doesn’t know what to say back. He is not very well versed in the whole receiving and giving compliments to people. He almost starts and stops making sentences a few times before he just settles with a sincere “Thanks…I guess you’re right.”

In fear of a now gloomy looking Keith entirely crumpling into a ball on the sidewalk, Lance tries to lighten the mood.

“And plus, this whole ‘I only wear black obscure band t-shirts because i’m edgy and brooding’ demeanor doesn’t have me fooled for one bit. I bet you’re a big softie underneath it all.”

Before Keith can even react to Lance’s stupid remark, the arrogant jerk is already hightailing up a hill towards a humongous tree that seems to be glowing under the stars of night sky. Keith follows, catching up to Lance to find himself almost completely surrounded by looming branches of the tree. Bright yellow lanterns with charms and other trinkets on them hang from the branches closest to the ground, which would explain the magical glow. The charms refract a rainbow of colors off of the lanterns, making the space where Lance and Keith stand under the tree look like the kaleidoscopes that Keith used to spend hours staring at as a kid.

“Woah” was all Keith could muster upon seeing the spectacle.

Lance was quiet, taking in the lights and watching Keith’s amazement out of the corner of his eye. The silence is only disturbed when finally Hunk and Pidge had finally “caught them all” and took their spots next to Lance and Keith. The four sat there and chatted about nothing for a couple hours.

“Lance, will you get over the Star Trek comment already, I was mostly just telling you your shirt is stupid.” Keith told Lance, after he brought the subject up again for the umpteenth time today.

“ Wahh, this shirt is frickin’ tight. Man you’re just jealous because your Grandma doesn’t buy you cool t-shirts for your birthday. One time she got me this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt in fifth grade. I got like five girls to kiss me wearing that shirt.”

“No way! Who even kisses in fifth grade?”

“Pshhh…Me. I already told you Lance + TMNT shirt = babe magnet…evenifthekisseswereonthecheek.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Whatever, your clothes just scream, ‘Look at me being all cool. But don’t really look at me because i’m just a moody emo hipster and I don’t like attention-but did you notice my cool obscure shirt that I bought at some underground concert when I snuck out of my house that one time to go to.’

“My Chemical Romance isn’t even an obscure band, why do you keep saying i’m a hipster?”

At some point mindless chatter melts into blissful silence. It's odd, finding silence to be anything but uncomfortable when you're with other people. Solitary silence, it has this unexplainable gravity that most people wish to orbit, attached serenity, time for reflection, unspoken access to understand things you're baffled by in company with the orchestral melodies that life likes to play on a nagging loop. Silence is a quick relief, an unexpected bar of silence before a crescendo. But even rarer, even more precious is a shared silence. Multiple bodies moving in the same rhythm, choosing to replace the cushion of sound with an absence of it. That's what they've created right now, under this tree, under the universe, the possibility of new connections in reach. 

Keith breaks the silence at some point, the thoughts in his mind escaping from his mouth in a loss of control or care that the long day has brought. 

"The stars here look a lot different that back at home. Don't know why, though. It's like they're saying the same the thing but in a different language." He mutters to himself mostly.

Lance, who's laying on the grass less than a foot away hears it though and hums in understanding. He stays quiet for a few moments and then turns his head on the grass to glance at Keith, who's still gazing upwards.

 

" **Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really..."Do the stars gaze back?" Now, that's a question.”**

It awakens Keith out of his trance and he peers down at Lance questioningly. 

"Nah, they probably have better things to do than watch us, a bunch of messed up assholes getting into petty wars and destroying our own planet. We're a horrible sitcom at best."

Lance snorts, not expecting Keith to even respond. "Man, wow dude, way to put a depressing spin on my favorite quote. You really know how to rub in the edge where you can."

 

"Shut the fuck up. It's probably true if they could watch back." Keith replies half heartedly as he lays back down in the grass.

 

Lance flips over onto his stomach and lays down on his folded arms.

 

"Doesn't necessarily matter if they like what they see, it's just if we are worth the same attention we give to the stars." "And besides," he adds in a second thought, "If they're gonna bother with it at all, I'd bet they'd stare back at me."

"Wow, humble as you are poetic. How charming."

 

The conversation continues like this for a while until Hunk and Pidge decide to intervene and drag Keith and Lance back to the dorms. Keith is the first to reach his room so he opens the door and starts to walk in but shocks himself when he peeks back out and briskly waves the three other students good night. He isn't sure what has gotten into him. He actually feels excited to wake up tomorrow and probably hang out with them again. Although, he could do with not hearing Lance’s obnoxious voice for a while, especially if it is saying anything involving the words ‘star’ and ‘wars’ together or otherwise.

 

Laying in his new bed, in his new home, he thinks for a second that maybe this could be different, maybe it could be better. His thoughts melt away in replace of dreams as he lets reality dissipate under the weight of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quote is from Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. There will probably be a lot of him. He's Lance's favorite author in this story.


	3. Rejections and Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of classes and the morning isn't starting in the best way for all of the gang. Keith, Hunk and Lance already cause trouble in one if their classes, and Keith becomes increasingly more spaced out and distant than Lance thought possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, i will update more about this chapter when it's not 2 am. This is becoming a bad habit...

It’s the first day of syllabus week, aka the last week of freedom before school actually starts and everyone wishes they had just dropped out and became an internet star or worked int their parent’s business or anything else really. Unfortunately, the students in the space program don’t get an entirely work-free week, which is why a blaring siren emanating from Keith’s phone sucks him out of sleep like a black hole at the ungodly hour of 7 am. Keith jolts out from under the pillow that was resting over his face and groans at the phone alarm. Maybe he could just turn it off telepathically. After about thirty-seconds, and his annoyance building up to a solid 8, he slams his hand on his phone and somehow manages to stop the sound. He’s regretting staying up so late the night before classes but he sucks it up and hops out of bed, feed padding on the cold floor of his still empty dorm. He’ll get around to unpacking eventually. 

Keith was originally supposed to have a room mate exchanging to this school from South Korea, but last minute the kid decided to stay in his current school, so now Keith has a single dorm, which he isn’t complaining about in the slightest. He would never admit it if you asked him, but when Keith first heard about his room mate’s situation he was mildly disappointed. His grandparents on his mother’s side had been from South Korea and he thought it would be nice to maybe have someone who he could connect with. Keith had hopped from foster parent to foster parent for as long as he could remember, until the day he turned 18 when he decided to escape the madness and go out on his own. In all that time he had never felt a sense of belonging or attachment to really anything. All he knew about himself were statistics, facts typed up in a packet by the orphanage and passed around to each family that attempted to take Keith in. He knew this. He was born in February, most likely in a small town in upstate New York to two second generation immigrants who apparently didn’t care about him enough to keep him. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz when he was born and his last name, the only piece of his family that he has left, is Kogane. Everything else about him has been fabricated in some way by the people around him. He’s “too stubborn”, “troublesome”, “hot headed”, “apathetic”. Those facts might be true too. To be honest, Keith has never really known who he is, or cared to find out. 

As Keith gets ready in an orderly fashion, taking a shower, picking out an outfit of ripped black skinny jeans, a twenty one pilots t-shirt, his red jacket and some black converse, and getting the stuff he needs together in his backpack, some of his other classmates take a different approach for the morning. 

Hunk is now physically pulling Lance out of his bed by his feet after having tried politely to wake him up for the last thirty minutes. It’s 7:40 and they have 20 minutes until their first class which is all the way on the other side of campus at the simulations space station. Lance is holding onto the bed frame and spewing an array of Spanish expletives (which Hunk has begrudgingly had to figure out of the years). 

“Hunk, no one even goes to the first day of class, let me SLEEP!”

“Lance! You’re going to class even if I have to pick you up and take you there! Your Grandma called me, which we’ll talk about later why you gave her my number, and threatened me to get your ass to class, and I’m not gonna feel the wrath of Grandma Sanchez!”

“Alright, alright!…Sheesh” Lance finally gets out of bed, yawns obnoxiously and stretches his back. Hunk giggles when he sees that Lance sleeps in boxers with red lips on them. 

“I would ask you more about the underwear but WE GOTTA GO! Come on get changed!” Hunk throws a t-shirt, boxers and jeans at Lance like a soccer mom gone berserk, and then tells Lance he’s gonna go grab breakfast for them and meet him outside. 

Lance puts on the jeans and boxers but switches the shirt out for a blue and white baseball tee. He fluffs his hair really quick, he likes the bedhead look anyway, and then checks himself in the mirror before clicking his teeth and pointing at his reflection with gun hands. 

“You handsome little devil you!” He grabs his backpack and jogs out the door. He almost stops at Keith’s door to ask if he wants to walk to class with them but he looks at his watch and realizes that it’s now 7:50 and Keith’s probably gone and “Oh shit, we’re gonna be so late!”

Lance is all for skipping class, but he’s not about walking in late and looking like a dumb ass in front of the professor on the first day so he foregoes the elevator, take the stairs down, practically leaping down each flight, and meets Hunk at the front door. The two boys sprint to class, bagels shoved in their mouths, and somehow manage to reach the door at exactly 8:00 am. 

Keith has been sitting in class for ten minutes, quietly playing with his phone and avoiding making eye contact with anyone. As soon as he sits down, a girl with blonde hair in little buns on the top of her head, a crop top that was way too small, and the matching shorts had sits down right next to him and starts talking to him. Keith doesn't really get why someone would feel the need to sit right next to him in an almost completely empty lecture hall. She isn’t being particularly annoying, just making small talk about the class and stuff, but Keith feels super awkward nonetheless. Eventually she grabs his shoulder, pops her bubblegum in his face and asks him if he wants to have lunch with her and some of her friends in the class and like the oblivious boy he is, Keith blows her off, politely pushes her hand off of him and tells her he doesn’t really feel like it today. At the precise moment when she turns around and walks away, cheeks red from embarrassment, Lance and Hunk walk in the door. 

They only see the aftermath of the situation but Lance immediately picks up on what happened when he sees the girl, who he knows from last year, named Lacy, huddling next to her friends, pointing at Keith, who is totally unaware of what is transpiring several rows down from him. 

Lance and Hunk walk up the stairs towards Keith before Lance smacks him on the shoulder and whispers all too loudly, “ Damn Keith, we haven’t even started flying planes yet and you already crashed and burned.” Lance chuckles to himself and Keith looks up him, completely confused.

“What are you talking about, i’m just sitting here?”

Lance is practically dying at this point from Keith’s naivety. “That girl over there, Lacy, she’s totally pissed at you for, let me guess, saying something blunt and stupid as usual. Little do you know, Lacy is the basically the less mean, slightly less hot Regina George of this department and you just fucked up any chances of her talking to you again.”

Keith’s face continues to look even more confused. “Regina Who?”

Before Lance can ream out Keith about being complete garbage, the professor walks in and asks everyone to sit down. Lance plops down next to Keith, still glaring at him about that last comment, and Hunk sits next to Lance, trying to control him from making a scene. 

The professor is an older man with peppered gray hair, large black glasses and a simple shirt and tie with black pants. He begins introducing himself and passes out the syllabi for everyone to read with him as he goes. 

“This class is Introduction to Space Station Protocol, I am Dr. Stoner— Lance immediately busts into laughter and both Hunk and Keith smack their hands over his mouth before the professor notices. 

 

“ Lance shut up! You’re gonna get us in trouble!” Hunk scream whispers into Lance’s ear. 

Lance tucks his face into his arms which are crossed on the desk and laughs into his jacket. Hunk is trying to act normal by acting totally suspicious and Keith is pretending he doesn’t know either of them. Keith is sure the world is punishing him this morning. He somehow pissed off a girl without even knowing it, and now he’s making the worst first impression ever as he is sure the professor is seeing what’s happening. What was Lance insinuating about that girl earlier anyways? All they did was make small talk and then she asked him if he wanted to go get lunch—OH GOD!—Suddenly it dawns on him—he rejected her. She was trying to ask him out and he totally blew her off. Keith’s cheeks go red and he opts to shove his face in his arms same as Lance did. Ugh I really am stupid. 

Before they know it, class is over and Lance, Hunk and Keith briskly make their way out of the auditorium, avoiding the professor. Hunk smacks Lance upside the head, making Keith chuckle to himself. They attend another class which pretty much consists of the same thing as the first, save for the Dr. Stoner ordeal. Lance manages to entertain himself by drawing cartoons of the professors doing obscene things and having Hunk and Keith add on. Keith refuses at first but caves in and gives one of them a big butt and boobs with a speech bubble that writes ‘Lance, draw me like one of your French girls.’

Lance ‘whispers’ in his Lance version of whispering to Keith, “Hey, you actually know a pop culture reference.” Keith flicks him on the nose.

“Owww! I was complimenting you!” 

————  
They separate for a little while, Lance heading to his astronomy class while Hunk and Keith go to Calc (Lance surprisingly finished Calc requirements already). Hunk walks to Keith to his last class so he won't get lost and then separates, leaving Keith to fend for himself with Lance because their last class is Introduction to Piloting and he has some engineering class with Pidge, who apparently was awol all day because they take a ridiculous amount of credits and have no free time until the evening. Hunk and Lance call Pidge their little computer troll because sometimes they don’t see them for days at a time. Last year during finals, Lance and Hunk hadn’t seen Pidge for 4 days so they broke into their room and found Pidge huddled in the dark in front of three computer screens, typing away, fueled only on energy drinks, ramen noodles and uncountable packs of skittles.

Keith and Lance walk into a small classroom. There is only ten or fifteen other students, which is what happens when programs like this weed out the weak early on, leaving only the strong, or blindly optimistic (in some people’s cases) to continue on. The two boys sit down near the back of the class, silence settling in between them. Both of them can figure it out that the other one is a little nervous. This is the first real class to put them on the track to actually being pilots, actually flying real planes, actually going to the Galaxy Garrison. Even Lance knows that this class is important, and he doesn’t want to screw it up for once. 

The professor comes in at 2 pm on the dot. He is a middle aged man with red hair and a matching red mustache. He starts handing out the syllabi again, giving a pile to each person at the front of each row to pass back. He then starts to speak and his high pitched, for lack of a better word, flamboyant voice shocks Lance and Keith. 

“Good afternoon soon to be pilots! I am Coran. I don’t like to be called professor or anything like that so just my name will suffice. I know that this class can be daunting, but don’t worry. It will be challenging, but fun, and most of all a great learning experience. Because this class requires me to be interactive with all of you, there will be a Teaching Assistant, who I will introduce at the end of the class. He is a student who graduated from this program several years ago and is now one of the leading pilots at the Garrison.”

“Please now, everyone grab a pencil, I am passing out a quick worksheet that’s just something for me to get to know you, since this is such a small class.”

“Psssst…Kieth, can I borrow a pencil?” Lance whispers in Keith’s ear, a little too close for comfort.

“You forgot a pencil, on the first day of school?”

“I was in a rush. There’s actually nothing in my backpack except for gum and now like a million sylllabuseses.”

Keith rolls his eyes, “Syllabi. And why did you even bring the damn thing if it’s useless?”

Lance pats his hand on Keith’s shoulder. Does he ever just not invade people’s personal space?

“Keith, my pal, my bro, It’s all about the illusion of looking like you have your shit together. Look i’m pretty good, but even i’ll admit i’m not that great. How do you think i’ve been this successful so far in college?”

Keith smacks Lance’s hand away finally and responds, “ I don’t know…dumb luck?”

Lance looks slightly offended, but shakes it off. “Nah, I don’t believe in luck. But, i’ve got a pretty good system for getting things to go my way and it all starts with confidence. If you act like you can do something, people believe it and then eventually you figure out how to actually do it.”

Lance just sits there looking smug. Keith wants to smack him again but doesn’t because in some ways Lance is actually right. Oh man, he thinks, maybe he’s doing it to me, tricking me into thinking he’s smart and actually has his shit sorted out. I’m just trudging along, waiting for someone to tell me my best isn’t good enough. But Lance, he probably doesn’t even think about the negatives, doesn’t even consider that he won’t make it, won’t go to the Garrison, won’t be a pilot. 

Keith snaps of his somber thoughts when he hears Lance ask him for a pencil again.

“Sooo, how about that pencil? huh?huh?” 

Keith chucks a pencil at Lance who tries to catch it but ends up propelling it up towards Coran’s desk, which is exactly where it lands. 

“Who’s pencil is this?”

Lance glances back and forth between Keith and Coran but Keith just shakes his head and so Lance speaks up-

“It’s mine. Sorry about that, it just kinda, ummm….slipped..??” 

 

“Well, don’t let it happen again Mr…what was your name again?”

“Uhh, Lance”

 

“Lance, this is the last class that we want to have pencils blinding the future pilots of America.”

Lance gets his pencil and sits back down like a dog with its tail between its legs. Him and Keith exchange glances and then they resume the worksheet they’re supposed to be almost finished with by now. 

 

It has all of your basic get to know you questions.

Name, Age, place you grew up

Keith: Keith, 20, has no idea how to begin answering the third part of that question so he scribbles something and then moves on

Lance: Lance, 19, Orlando, then Miami

2\. Favorite Food

Keith: French Fries  
Lance: anything his Grandma makes/any kind of ice cream

3\. Favorite color

Keith: Red

Lance: Blue

4\. Say anything about your family

Keith: stares at this question for five minutes, considers crumpling the whole paper, settles for just ignoring it again, only writing a small scribble of pointless words

Lance: spends ten minutes listing all of his family members and his favorite things about them

 

While still writing, Lance peers over at Keith who has been sitting motionless for a while now. He doesn’t notice Lance at all. He seems totally spaced out, his eyes vacant and his mouth slightly in a frown. Lance almost reaches over and asks if he’s okay but chickens out when he notices that Keith’s paper is turned over and shoved to the side of his desk. He must not like talking about personal things, which Lance kind of guessed from the first day they met. But the look in his face now, it looks like more than just someone who doesn’t care to talk about themselves, he looks genuinely upset. For a split second Lance can see the part of Keith that is buried under layers of protective shell. He wishes he could help, but he barely knows him at all. Why would he want him to comfort him? Coran collects the papers and promises that they are confidential and that he looks forward to learning more about everyone. 

 

Just before the class ends, Coran leaves to go fetch the TA who will be helping him starting next class. After two minutes, and Lance secretly trying to cheer Keith up by starting a game of eraser hockey on his desk, Coran returns with the TA and asks him to introduce himself.

 

“Hello. My name is Shiro, I’m 26 and i’m a pilot for the space station at the Galaxy Garrison. I used to be right in your shoes so don’t be afraid to ask me for anything this semester. I’m taking this semester off as a pilot myself in order to hopefully find some promising pilots out of you guys. Class is almost over so we can catch up more next class when i’m actually here the whole time. Oh and by the way, if i’m ever not here, just check my office anytime before like 6 or 7. I’ve still got a lot of busy work to do for the Garrison when i’m not teaching.”

Shiro stands in front of the class with a confidence that can’t really be mimicked. He is tall, muscular, and stands like a soldier. His hair is short and black, with completely white front pieces that hang over his forehead. Most of the students are silent as he talks, out of fear that they will embarrass themselves or make a bad impression on someone who is probably the coolest person they’ll meet. In reality, Shiro is just like them, slightly nervous but trying to look like he’s not. He knows exactly what they are feeling because he was just in their places a few years ago, only he had more pressure on him by his parents to be the best pilot in the class. 

Keith is now staring wide-eyed at Shiro, his long time friend, the only person who has ever believed in him, and whom he has not physically seen since high school. Keith met Shiro at a career fair back in Vermont when some people from the Garrison came around to different schools and tried to get students interested in the program. He watched in awe as the pilots and engineers stood in front of the class, shiny white and black outfits gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, exuding greatness and embodying freedom. Keith knew that day he wanted to be a pilot, knew he wanted to have that freedom, wanted to see the world from a different perspective. Keith and Shiro bonded that day and managed to and keep in touch, Shiro knowing that Keith had a special passion for it that he had never seen, and not wanting it to fade with time. Even though they didn’t get to see each other for a long time afterwards, it was Shiro who saved Keith’s ass when he got kicked out of his last school for fighting, Shiro who wrote the recommendation letter to the University, Shiro who gave him a last chance. And now, he was standing in front of the classroom as a TA, and quite frankly Keith doesn’t know how to react.

Lance on the other hand is fan-girling about Shiro because for most of the students here, Shiro is a celebrity. They have all heard about him and the amazing accomplishments he has had in a few short years of piloting. Lance runs up to him to shake his hand and he even accidentally squeaks out that he might have a poster of him hanging in his childhood bedroom. 

Eventually though, The class settles down and starts to file out, Lance grabbing his backpack from the back of his chair hoping to do the same, except for that Keith is being a space cadet again.

“Keith you’re drifting off again. Does this like…happen often?”

In a half daze Keith replies, “Increasingly so” 

Lance gestures for him to get up so they can leave, murmuring something about how he’s hungry, but Keith stands next to his chair like a statue glued in place. 

 

“Umm hey Lance, go ahead i’ll catch up with you in a sec I just gotta ask the teacher something.”

“Okay, i’ll be out front but you have like two minutes before I leave and go eat without you.”

Lance walks out of the classroom and Keith finally manages to walk towards Shiro, a smile escaping from his lips again. He can’t believe he’s here, in the flesh, teaching Keith how to be a pilot or whatever. What does he say though? How can he even begin to thank him for well everything?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if there's any blaring mistakes, it's late. Also, I hope I am using Pidge's pronouns correctly. Please let me know if I mess up with the they/them pronouns because i've never written using them before and i don't want to upset people.
> 
>  
> 
> My Voltron/ fanart tumblr is http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com


	4. Regretful Gazes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of a mini chapter ( like chapter 3.5 or the first half of chapter 4, I don't know) with some drama before what's to come (which is fun, possibly fluffy Klance filled stuff). Keith's reunion with Shiro doesn't go as planned and only the intrusive pest that is Lance can help save Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a little OD but whatever, he is sensitive in my fic ;)  
> Lance defiles nature in his search to quench his boredom
> 
> Ch.4.5 will be out tomorrow, it is a continuation of this scene kinda
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr if you want http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com/

As Keith makes his way towards Shiro, he mentally slaps himself in the face and reminds himself that Shiro is no big deal, he’s a friend, practically the only family Keith has ever had. Things wouldn’t be different now that Shiro is technically Keith’s teacher, would they? 

Keith now stood in front of his old friend, waiting for one of them to say something first and taking in all the new things about him. He was mostly the same, same hair, same piercing black eyes of course that always made him look like he was wearing eyeliner. But, this Shiro seemed taller and broader, standing with the same confidence of the pilots that stood in front of his high school class that day. He had a calmness to him that seemed uncharacteristic of the neurotic, intense young adult that Keith remembered from when Shiro would call him from the Garrison, a nervous wreck, sleep deprived and unsure of himself or his capabilities. Keith had only been a teenager, with his own problems and his own demons, but he would let Shiro talk until he calmed down, he would listen to everything. Somewhere the tables had turned, Shiro had grown up, found himself, and Keith slipped further and further away from who he was. Now was a fresh start though, a new chance to show Shiro and everyone else that he could get it together. Keith wanted to surprise Shiro the way he was surprising him now. 

 

After a slightly awkward silence Keith finally speaks up. 

“Shiro…I uh..What are you doing here? I mean…you didn’t say anything about this last time” Keith says hesitantly, dropping the sentence before he babbled anymore. 

 

“Yeah, sorry this is kind of weird I guess, me being your TA out of nowhere. They just, some of the officials at the Garrison were talking about this opportunity and I kind of snatched it up. I needed a break from flying, and I wanted to see y— all of the new potential recruits.”

“Oh. I don’t know how you could ever get sick of flying. I don’t think they’ll be able to get me to land once I get hold of a plane.” Keith says and nervously laughs, rubbing the back of his neck where the long tendrils of hair were damp with the sweat emanating from, well everywhere at this point. 

Shiro chuckles and pats Keith on the shoulder, making him slightly stumble. “Yeah, well we’ll see once they have you training everyday, for hours and hours. Any ways, this position is temporary. Who knows how i’ll feel about teaching after having you in my first class haha.”

Keith finally starts to calm down, letting himself laugh at Shiro’s slight nudge at him. This was the guy he remembered talking to. “Wait till you get to know my friend Lance. You’ll be outta here the first chance you get.” Did he really just call that annoying kid his friend? Maybe he was losing it.

“Oh I think I can handle it, I’ve been dealing with difficult recruits for years now, he can’t be that bad.”

“Oh trust me, you don’t know what you signed up for.” Keith says, putting one hand on his hip and flicking Shiro’s jacket with the other. Shiro responds by putting Keith in a headlock, which was totally immature and unprofessional, he knew, but was his way of telling Keith that he was glad to see him, here, in college, doing okay. 

Keith eventually gets out of the headlock after several attempts at escape, Shiro being the only one he knew that could overpower him in a “fight.” A smile is radiating from his face, which was kind of embarrassing actually because he knows he looks like an idiot most likely. He knows Lance is probably dying of starvation by now, or abandoned him which would suck because he has no idea how to get back to the dorm, but he doesn’t care. Shiro is the one to look at his watch and realize that he needs to be somewhere.

“ Oh man, I need to leave now if i’m going to be on time. Sorry, Keith, i’ll have to see you tomorrow, I have something to attend. It was nice catching up though. I’m sure we can catch up more during class, and you can introduce me to said difficult friend.”

Keith was about to say good bye but at the last moment he decided he needed to say something to Shiro about how grateful he was for everything he did for him. He knew that Shiro was his friend, that he would always help him out, but going out of his way to get Keith into this school was way above the responsibilities of a friend. He had probably done a lot of paperwork, done a lot of begging, probably even gotten hounded by his higher officers who thought Keith was a troublemaker. 

“Uhh Shiro, I know you have to go but I just wanted to say…well I just thought you should know…Um, just, just thank you for you know sticking your neck out for me and recommending me for this program after what happened.” Keith looked down at his feet, too embarrassed to look Shiro in the face. He wasn’t sure why he was making him so nervous today, so cognizant of every move he made. Normally, Keith was calm and collected, or at least good at acting that way when he was really a mess, but not today. Today he was feeling and acting like a nervous teenage girl talking to her crush. Not that he had a crush on Shiro or anything, no, impossible! It was just that he hadn’t seen him in a long time, hadn’t talked to him about his life, hadn’t been use to him being in the same room as him, hearing his deep, sultry voice, seeing the contrast of his dark features with his porcelain skin and whips of white hair—no, stop it Keith. You really are going bonkers. 

“Oh, it’s no problem Keith, you deserve this, probably more than anyone, you deserve to be here. Besides, I only had to pull a few strings. You were more than qualified as far as grades and skill. They were a little hesitant at first, but eventually they gave in when I told them it was a mistake, that you were going through some rough stuff with your personal life, and that I knew you were a good kid. I did have to tell them about your parents though, I know you try to keep that private, but they said it was ‘crucial information’ to their decision.' It's okay though now, cause you're here."

“Wait, so you got me in by telling them i’m an orphan?” Keith was verging on angry now, the conversation having taken a different route than he had planned. He was trying to avoid conflict, trying to bury his temper away with his past, but he refused to do it in front of Shiro, refused to put on a front. 

“No, Keith, that’s—that’s not what I was trying to say. They took you because your talented, they just wanted to know why you had gotten into trouble. I just thought it was important for them to know.” Shiro pleaded with Keith. He knew that Keith could change demeanors quickly, could turn a conversation around from cold to hot in seconds.

“Oh really? Because to me it sounded like they were saying a resounding NO, until you played the troubled orphan card.”

Shiro started “Keith come on— but was interrupted again.

“No! You come on Shiro! We both know they were going to reject me, tell me I was too volatile, too risky. I thought I was lucky for once, that someone took a chance on me for my skills over my reputation, but they didn’t take a chance on me, they took an opportunity to look good. And you, you handed it to them on a silver platter! Shiro the amazing pilot prodigy and his little hot-tempered orphan sidekick, that sounds like good publicity for our school. You knew I hid my past, that I didn’t want to be seen that way anymore after high school, that I was sick of either being coddled for it or thrown away like trash! I was good enough to get into the other University before I fucked it up, I was good enough to get in here too, without your stupid help…” Keith’s voice starts to fade off, sadness and tiredness replacing anger. 

Shiro looks down at Keith, speechless, afraid to push Keith any further away from him with the wrong words. Keith just stands there, silent now, save for rushed, forced breaths inhaling and exhaling to keep him from passing out of mental exhaustion. His head is down, face completely shrouded by a messy heap of raven hair, saving Shiro from having to look at Keith's disappointment in him. 

The room seems about to collapse from tension, the white brick walls practically leaning on each other for support like a wounded soldier grabs onto his comrade, like Keith used to hold onto Shiro for support, but suddenly the door to the lecture hall swings open, revealing an extremely agitated Lance. His face turns bright red the second he sees Keith and Shiro standing together by the chalkboard, and he realizes that he just walked into something entirely different then what he was predicting. He had been sitting outside underneath a tree the whole time, nodding at cute girls that walked past and picking pieces of grass out of the ground to pass the time. Eventually, he realized he had plucked the earth dry, a bald spot now surrounding the tree where he sat, so he decided to go tell Keith he was leaving without him. He figured Keith and Coran were nerding out about something like their favorite plane models, Keith seemed like a closeted nerd that would totally do that. But boy was he wrong, he had walked into something entirely more awkward and was now staring like a kid at the zoo, watching a cheetah devour its prey, only he didn’t really know who was the cheetah or prey in this scenario. He starts to turn around, pushing the balls of his feet into the ground to do a 180, when Keith looks up at him and starts towards Lance. 

 

Keith grabs Lance’s arm, thankful for Lance’s impatience at this moment in time, and starts dragging him towards the door.

“Owe Keith, watch the death grip would ya!” 

Keith ignores him, charging out the door after taking one glance back at Shiro, which he immediately regrets. Keith’s vicious gaze meets with Shiro’s, who’s eyes are filled with sadness and guilt. Part of Keith feels bad for blowing up at Shiro over things that were undeniably true about him, but at this moment, the only emotion he can latch onto is anger, the raw stuff only elicited by betrayal, the kind that devours you and spits out all the other emotions. 

As he is being paraded out of the lecture hall and towards the tree that he had very recently defiled, Lance remains uncharacteristically quiet. Here’s the thing, if Lance is too terrified to speak, everyone should be terrified. Despite his better judgement, Lance chances a glance down towards Keith, and immediately regrets it. Keith is a fire breathing dragon and Lance might as well be a damsel in distress (a damsel who’s dress is on fire, riding in a highly flammable wooden carriage, that’s barreling uncontrollably down a steep hill, with prince charming strapped to the top like a barbecue spit, while said fire breathing dragon is chasing it towards a lake filled with kerosene). 

Keith makes it to the tree and let’s go of Lance, putting his hands on his knees and bending over to catch his breath. Lance rubs his arm and starts cursing in Spanish once again before finally speaking words for Keith to understand.

“Ok, WHAT the hell was that? And you better not tramps off and ignore me because you just assaulted my arm…and my eyes. Anyone ever tell you you have i'm gonna murder you eyes?” Lance also thinks Keith's are kinda mesmerizing, maybe even pretty, like when the sun hits them just right, or like when they were twinkling under the stars the other night, but that's besides the point. Now they are strictly, terrifying.

 

Keith catches his breath and then slowly stand up straight, looking dazedly at Lance. His hair is stuck to his forehead, and his face is pale and dewy. Just when he finally recognizes the tall boy standing in front of him, asking him something stupid probably, the world spins and goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay it's late again, whoops, so excuse poor grammar until I fix it in the morning. Or if it's not tomorrow, excuse this note all together. 
> 
> Don't worry, Klance stuff is coming soon!


	5. Phase One Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is in need of cheering up, Lance thinks he is the guy to do it. Lance plans an impromtu (but totally actually promtu) night out on the town for him, Keith, Hunk and Pidge, which may or may not go as planned. But that's okay because his plan for FUN is actually more complex than anyone thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually turning into a three part thing so this is part two of three. Next part will be the most juicy/Klancey part yet.

“Keith! Keith, man wake up, people are staring.”

No response

Keith is now laying in the dirt next to the tree, his face is still alarmingly pale and dripping with sweat, but at least he isn’t hurt, or so Lance guesses because by some chance his cat-like reflexes had initiated in just enough time to barely catch Keith by the shoulders before he landed. Lance is already cooking up ways to brag about that for the next couple of months. 

Lance is crouched on the ground near Keith’s face, his hands prodding at Keith, poking him in the cheek, shaking his shoulder, “lightly” slapping him on the other cheek, but Keith won’t wake up. There’s a crowd of students gathering around the two boys now, concerned, or more likely just curious to see what’s happening, even though this scenario is probably still on the normal side of the spectrum for unusual college happenings. Lance is just nervously nodding at people as they gather and blurt out the obvious things like, ‘is that kid passed out?’ or ‘is he okay?’. 

 

Lance tries his final attempt at making Keith respond. 

“All right, I really didn’t want to have to do this but I guess i’m gonna have to give you mouth to mouth…in front of ALL these people…in the middle of campus…like when the prince kissed Snow White, very passionately.” Lance even makes kiss noises for effect and gets closer and closer to Keith’s face

Keith’s eyes shot open and he grabs Lance by the front of his shirt, face riddled with confusion and aggravation. 

“Put your lips anywhere near mine and it won't be a poison apple that tries to kill you!” Keith spits back at Lance, as if those words were already sitting on his tongue, waiting for him to resurface from unconsciousness and expecting that Lance would have taken the opportunity to make that joke. 

Lance is pretty unfazed by Keith’s reaction. He's pretty unfazed by almost any insult by this point in his life, although that doesn't mean he won't fight back if he wants to. "You'd actually be the one to eat the poison apple....my idiotic prince." He digs back but then exhales a sigh of relief that Keith is okay and backs up from him before standing up and lending a hand for the flustered boy to get up too. 

Keith blushes slightly at that last comment, but he chalks it up to the fact that he just fainted and almost got accosted by Lance's lips.

"Ugh, are you ever not annoying?"

 

“ Are you ever not salty about everything? ... "Anyways...you're awake at least and not laying on the ground, or at least i'm trying to get you off the ground. I knew that would work! SCORE 2 for Lance saving Keith’s ass, Keith 0 for, well for… vice versa ERR—you know, not you saving your ass, it’d be my ass, I guess…” By this point in the sentence Lance is completely lost, pointing his fingers and moving them around to suggest that he is working out the mechanics of the ass saving score system. 

“Don’t hurt yourself Lance, we get it, you like my ass.” Keith says as he finally grabs Lance’s hand, smirking devilishly. 

Some of the girls that are still gathered around them giggle, making Lance’s face turn completely red. He thrusts Keith up, jerking his shoulder almost out of socket and gives him a scowl, followed shortly by a tiny crooked smile. Just for this once, Lance is willing to hurt his pride a little to know that Keith must be okay if he’s cracking jokes like that. Or maybe, he bumped his head or something because in the 24 hours that he’s known Keith, he hadn’t really heard him say anything remotely funny, nonetheless a joke about Lance liking his ass.

"What can I say, I like big butts and I can not lie."

Keith turns an alarming shade of red, but he pretends to gag, squishing his face up and pointing a finger at his mouth, hoping Lance didn't notice.

Keith brushes the dirt of his now dusty grayish black, well every part of his outfit, and looks around trying to figure out exactly what had gone down. All he remembered was Lance coming in the door, and him immediately rushing towards him, clinging to him as an escape from Shiro. After that, everything went fuzzy until he began to wake up and heard Lance threatening to kiss him in front of a bunch of people.

Lance is waiting patiently for Keith to recollect himself, watching as the distracted boy looks around in circles and seeing him kind of nod and turn a shade back towards his normal complexion with every realization that he has. This cycle of searching and finding clarity has been going on for a couple minutes and without knowing it, Lance has settled himself against the tree, his backpack sliding off one shoulder, and Keith’s backpack sitting next to his feet. Despite his growing hunger pangs and the awkwardness of the situation, Lance couldn't help but find the moment tranquil. The symbolism of it all was transcendental. Lance, clad in blue from his eyes, to his casual clothes, to his cool calmness, watching chaos consume the fiery boy in front of him, dressed in mostly black but emanating a semblance of red, it was poetic. Keith had caused him a hell of a lot of trouble today, embarrassing him, threatening him, passing out on him, embarrassing him again. He had been kinda moody and blunt and dismissive, and has horrible taste in everything, but for some reason, Lance can’t help but enjoy Keith’s presence. He likes his scary, beautiful cobalt eyes, and he likes how log it takes Keith to get a joke, and he even secretly likes how his stupid mullet hangs in front of his stupid face when he gets embarrassed and he naturally tilts his head down a little bit. Lance is weirdly grateful that this odd boy had appeared out of nowhere, and at the same time he knows that the same boy will probably either ruin his life completely, or make it infinitely better. Keith’s the kind of person that makes an imprint, be it good or bad. The only problem is, Lance is known for having that exact same effect, making an imprint on people whether they like it or not, and only bad can come out of combining those types of personalities…right?

 

—————

Lance is also the kind of person that ignores the little voices inside his head that would tell him that sort of thing, so naturally he decides then and there to initiate operation “Distract Keith from his Problems” aka “Lance Gets to Have Fun Through Other’s Misfortunes”, aka “You’ll Have Fun, and You’ll Like It Episode VIII, aka “ No I don’t have Shadenfreude syndrome, this is supposed to be fun, Why aren’t you having fun yet!?” 

With that Lance promptly pushes himself off of the tree, and grabs Keith's wrist before asking,

“Keith. You know what you need? Some good old fashioned fun! All this passing out and what not has really got me bummed out.” He starts to walk, expecting Keith to follow, but he rebounds when Keith stays planted.

“ Quit grabbing me Lance! Are you sure I need to have fun, or do you just want to have fun? And you weren’t even the one who fainted?”

“Pshhh, yeah but I did all the work, worrying, and preparing myself mentally to have to give you CPR.” Lance waves his hand dismissively at Keith who is rolling his eyes and frowning. 

All that Keith gets out of that sentence was that Lance was worried about him. That was a weird feeling, for someone to worry about him. He had been on his own for so long, it felt bizzare, alien even, it kind of made his skin crawl and feel warm at the same time.

“Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise.” Lance gives Keith puppy eyes until Keith sighs the sigh that Lance knows means he has surrendered. 

“Fine. But let’s walk like normal people for a change, okay?”

Lance smirks back at Keith, little devil horns practically erupting out of his skull, and pumps his fist in the air. 

“Whoo! I can’t remember the last time Hunk, Pidge and I had a night out.”

“I can’t imagine why…” mumbles Keith, as they walk towards the dorm, or jog pretty much because even though Lance only has a couple of inches on Keith in height, his strides are abnormally long. 

“Hey! I’ll have you know I am the life of the party. Pidge and Hunk are just big nerds so it’s hard to get them off of their computers. Oooh, Pidge is gonna be so mad, this is great!”

—————

When Lance and Keith return back to their dorms, Lance tells him that he’s gonna go break the news to Hunk and Pidge, and Keith can chill for an hour before they leave. He runs down the hallway and Keith swipes his card and enters his dorm.

It feels beyond nice to be alone for five seconds after the day he has had. Keith tries not to think about Shiro, about what class will be like tomorrow when he has to face him again. He wants more than anything for tonight to distract him from the anger and guilt that is consuming him, even though he’s fairly certain nothing can erase that image of Shiro looking back at him when he left the lecture hall from his mind. He sighs and plops backwards on his bed, dozing off for a few minutes or—an hour.

 

*Knock Knock Knock* 

“Keith, helllooo is anyone in there? Ready to get your party on?!” Lance is standing in the hallway, banging against Keith’s door with a reluctant Hunk and Pidge leaning up against the wall.

“Dude, calm the fuck down. He probably doesn’t want to go either.” Snaps Pidge, pushing their glasses up onto their nose with one hand, and placing the other hand on their temple. 

“ Pidge, it’s not that bad. You need fresh air anyways, when’s the last time you made any social interactions with people other than us or your teachers, huh?” “K-eeee-ith!” 

 

Pidge flips Lance off and Hunk giggles, then holds up a fist bump to Pidge, who reciprocates proudly. 

 

Keith wakes up from a dead sleep to his door about to break down and an all too familiar voice yelling his name from behind it. 

 

“Oh shit, I was asleep that whole time!”

Keith runs to the door and opens it to find three faces looking him up and down. Lance had changed in to a new, ridiculous t-shirt that had Finn and Jake on it from Adventure Time, with a green military jacket, and most blaringly, his pilot goggles in their spot on top of his head. Hunk was wearing jeans and an orange Fanta t-shirt, with white sneakers. Pidge had on short overalls, that confused him, with a green t-shirt underneath. Come to think of it, Keith wasn’t actually sure what gender Pidge was, but he didn’t feel inclined to ask considering he had just met them yesterday. 

 

“Keith, what the quiznaks, we were out here calling you for like 5 minutes, and you still look like you were rolling around in the dirt!”

“Lance, I told you quiznak doesn’t mean what you think it means.” Pidge points out and chuckles to themselves. 

Keith looks like a confused child again. He rubs the back of his neck, and then looks down at his clothes to find that yes, he is still wearing the dirty ones from earlier. He must have fallen asleep right when he walked in. Lance is hiding a smile from forming, not wanting anyone to know that he may or may not think a sleepy, disoriented Keith is more or less, kinda cute. 

Keith finally speaks. “I—uhh sorry, I guess I fell asleep, it’s been a long day.”

Hunk starts to ask why but Lance smashes his hand over his mouth and shakes his head with wild eyes. He didn’t tell the other two about what had happened besides Keith passing out. Keith could tell them, including Lance, what had happened in the classroom, if he ever wanted to. 

“It’s cool buddy, you can get changed and we’ll meet you downstairs. Mmkay?” Lance says, finally letting out the smile. 

Keith nods his head and then closes the door as the three make their way towards the elevator. 

Hunk slaps Lance on the shoulder and says, “Wow Lance, that was surprisingly mature. I thought you were gonna make him go like that.” Commence chuckling at Lance, as usual.

Keith rushes to change, replacing his black jeans for dark grey skinny jeans, and picking out a black, gray and red flannel. He slides back into his converse, grabs his wallet, and keys, runs a few fingers through his long hair and leaves the dorm. 

As Keith waits for the elevator, he considers what kind of terrible thing Lance has planned for this “night out.” He’s already preparing himself for some kind of embarrassment, but he guesses he owes Lance for today. He especially owes him for dealing with all of that, and not asking for an explanation in return, because Keith wasn’t prepared to talk about it, he didn’t even know how he felt about it. 

 

The boys meet out front of the dorm building and then follow Lance onto the metro which brings them to the downtown area. The downtown area may be small, but it is alive and packed with college students everywhere, shopping, dining, walking in groups. When the four boys exit the metro station, they are emersed in the action, taking in the lights and sounds of the quaint town. Within seconds though, Lance has spotted their destination and makes a B line for a building whose facade is covered in multicolored neon lights and a large sign that says Cosmic Bowling on it.

 

“Ughhh Lance, Bowling! Really?! That was your big plan?” Pidge complains, and then follows the other three into the big glass doors. 

Lance turns around to his unamused comrades and says, “This, is only phase 1 of the plan. Nothing is more fun than eating a bunch of greasy food, and having a good competition.”

“I guess it’ll be fun when I annihilate you. Oh and you’re buying right?” Keith says and pushes past Lance to go get his shoes. 

Lance chases after Keith, followed by Hunk and Pidge who are mostly in it for the free food and the chance to see Lance get beat by Keith. 

PLEASE ENTER TEAM MEMBER NAMES

 

Pidge: PIDGEON

Hunk: HUBBAHUBBA

Lance: PRINCEHOTSTUFF

Keith: EMOMULLET

“Hey, you can’t pick my name!”

“Hahaha too late Keith, I already pressed enter, just accept it, just accept it.” Lance puts his finger over Keith’s mouth before getting his hand slapped away so hard it stung. 

 

“Let’s just play.”

 

The game starts off with Lance ahead, Keith behind him, Pidge and then Hunk who is more concerned with what they should order for dinner than with bowling. Towards the middle of the game, Keith is getting closer to Lance’s score, only separating them by a couple points. Lance is egging him on with insults, and Keith throws them right back. At some point, Pidge and Hunk are just chucking their bowling balls hap hazardously down the aisle so they can go back to watching Keith make Lance, their overly confident, sometimes verging on arrogant, annoying but overall sweet best friend, quiver in his boots. It was unusual for anyone to fire Lance up this much, and they needed to cherish this front row moment. 

“ Wahhh, You cheated!! There’s no way you beat me!” Lance screams at the tv screen flashes GAME OVER: WINNER_ EMOMULLET 243 POINTS

“I didn’t cheat! I just don’t suck at bowling!” Keith retorts, as the two boys meet, foreheads touching, faces red, eyes like lasers beam, arms grasping onto the other at the shoulders and elbows. 

“You had to, with that awful technique! How can you even see the pins under all that hair?!”

“I don’t even need to see the pins to get a better score than you!”

After a solid ten minutes of this, Hunk decides to step in because A, there is a 10 year old’s birthday party right next to them that might not be prepared for Lance’s "colorful" vocabulary, and B, the food is gone by now. 

“Okay, break it up! Lance, Keith didn’t cheat, you can have a rematch next time, without us hopefully…” Hunk gets in between the two and easily separates them with a push. 

 

Both of them mumble a reluctant “Fine…”

 

They all return their shoes and walk outside to the street.

“So what now?” Pidge asks, mostly directed at Lance because his bowling idea obviously backfired

 

“Yeah what now Lance, because that sure as hell didn’t put me in a better mood.” Keith grumbles

“I mean it was fun until the end right??And the food was good.”

“If by fun you mean the worst thing i’ve ever done, and by good you mean good for heartburn than yeah I guess you’re right.” 

 

“I agree!” Pidge adds in.

“Hey, who’s side are you on?! All right then—“ Lance points a finger up into the air

“I think we should forego the remaining phases of the plan, because I’m realizing now that laser tagging, mini golfing and/or go kart racing might have a similar end result (with me winning of course).”

“We all could have told you that”

“Hush Pidge! Instead we are moving on to Plan B of operation Distract Keith from his Problems!”

Keith turns his head swiftly in Lance’s direction

“Operation What?!” 

“Nothing!”

“Is this anything like Operation F.U.N in high school that ended up with you getting beat up in the parking lot?” Adds in Hunk

“No, th-that was entirely different!” 

“What about Experiment 757: How to Force—“

“NAH, Pidge, it’s definitely not like that one, which you swore to never talk about again!” 

“Guys trust me, Plan B is good, we gotta go back to school though.”

A unanimous, “Fine…” seems to be the choice response of the night.

The boys make their way back onto the metro, which is now mostly empty, except for a few locals commuting from late night shifts. Keith sits down by himself, trying to avoid Lance for a few minutes to keep him from punching the cocky jerk. He questions what he is even doing anymore, hell, Lance makes him question where his entire life took a wrong turn sometimes. 

 

On the ride back Pidge is playing on their phone, and Hunk and Lance sit and chat. Finally, the curiosity gets the better of him and Hunk decides to ask him about Plan B. 

“So, ughh, I know you like to be all secret agent but I think you should probably tell me about the rest of the plan so I can flee the scene tonight in case Keith murders you.”

“Relax Hunk. I’m not gonna piss him off again. I didn’t know he would be as competitive as me, but there’s nothing that can go wrong with us just sitting around, playing some games, maybe breaking into a little of Grandma’s special tequila.” Lance nudges Hunk in the arm and wiggles his eyebrows at him.

“Oh, no, you don’t mean your plan is to—

“Exactly Hunk!”

(turns and faces into an imaginary video camera) “Plan B: Get Keith totally wasted (so he forgets his problems, and I get to learn embarrassing things about him) is commencing in 5,4,3,2,1.”

The doors to the metro car open at the last stop, the University, and Lance tromps through them like a gladiator through the gates of an arena. Hunk swallows air and walks out of the car, Keith and Pidge at his sides, unaware of the true powers of Grandmas special tequila that await them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What secrets lie behind the spells of Grandma's Special Tequila? 
> 
> I ended up taking longer on the first half of the night out than planned, so I decided to split it and post the first part. The next part will be fun I promise!


	6. So Melodramatic But it Turns Me On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance plans to get Keith drunk and he drags Hunk and Pidge along for the ride. The night starts off rocky but ends with some unexpected "bonding moments" between Keith and Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involves underage drinking in case that bothers/upsets anyone. Yes I used a Pierce the Veil lyric as the tentative title (but I might change it)
> 
> For anyone that cares at all, next update probably won't be until Monday night because I am working two twelve hour shifts this weekend (yipee :| )
> 
> QUESTION: I was originally going to add some kind of truth or dare type scene in this chapter, but I got lazy. Should I add it??

The gang returns to Lance and Hunk’s dorm and stake out their respective lounging areas while Lance goes down the hall to get something from a friend. Hunk and Pidge take their places back on the yellow and blue bean bags and Keith sits up against Hunk’s be because he was worried Lance’s might give him a disease or have radioactive sludge on it or rub Lance’s annoyance factor off onto him. 

Hunk breaks into the Fridge of Wonder again and pulls out sodas for all of them, salsa and guac, and then tostitos from a shelf above the fridge. 

Keith pictured the FOW as a Mary Poppins type of ordeal where anything and everything you could want would just appear when you grabbed for it inside. You want frozen pizza rolls at 2 am, got it, you want leftover Chinese food that you don’t even remember ordering, it’s in there, you’re craving some of Lance’s grandma’s Mexican home cooking leftovers, satisfaction met, and it’s still deliciously fresh. 

“Um, Hunk, didn’t we all just eat like way too many buffalo wings and pizza?” Keith asks curiously.

“Yeah, but trust me, when Lance gets back he’s gonna insist we have this.” Hunk just replies begrudgingly, as if he knows exactly what Lance has in mind for the night.

“Uhhh…okay?..”

Just then, Lance kicks open the door, his arms filled with supplies for the evening’s festivities. From what Keith can make out of the pile there’s a stack of red cups, a bag of lemons, guess Hunk doesn’t have those, a funny looking hat that looks like a combination of a sombrero and cowboy hat and the most alarming item, a shiny bottle filled with yellow-honey colored liquid. Lance has his staple shit-eating grin on his face, and the devil horns are peeping their way out again from behind the damned pilot goggles. 

“What, did you just go rob the cinco de mayo section of a party city in the last five minutes?” Keith asks, half jokingly.

“ Shut up, I happen to have cool friends with the hook-ups, and one of them keeps my tequila in his room because our RA is an asshole and likes to check for any possible evidence to get us in trouble.”

“That’s because you dyed his hair blue the first week of orientation.” Hunk points out, and then snickers because it was actually really funny and totally worth it.

“You have friends besides us?” Pidge cuts in, finally looking up from their phone and towards Lance who unfortunately is too busy reminiscing about the blue hair to pay attention to the insult.

Lance then drops everything in his hands except for the bottle onto the mountainous pile on his bed.

“Ewww, don’t contaminate the cups with your Lance cooties.” Pidge tries again.

“How many times have I told you,they’re clean! I just don’t feel like putting them away.”

 

After staring at the pile for a second, Keith inquires,

“ Wait, where have you been sleeping the past week then?”

Hunk abruptly replies before Lance can answer, “Don’t ask”

Keith blushes profusely thinking about what that reply entails, enough to make him turn his head down towards the phone in his lap and enough to distract him from Lance who’s entire face is also tomato red, his eyes darting back and forth between Hunk and Keith. 

Pidge finally saves them all and asks Lance what exactly he has planned.

“All right as much as i’m enjoying this charade, i’m bored, and you have liquor, so what are we doing?”

Keith chuckles at Pidge who continues to surprise him every time he is around them.

“Yeah Lance, what is all this shit for, and i’m telling you now, i’m not wearing that hat.”

“Aww come on Keith, I brought it just for you, it lights up and everything.” Lance ignores Keith completely and fights with him to put it on top of his messy hair. Keith gives in when he sees that Lance will not take no for an answer, that and it was embarrassing fighting with him like a little girl, in front of Hunk of Pidge.

Lance settles down, taking a seat in between Keith and Hunk. He starts to pass out cups, unconsciously glancing back at Keith while doing so. Keith’s face was still red from squabbling about the hat, probably. His long bangs poked out under the now flashing red lights hanging down from the brim of the atrocious headwear. From the front you could see only see a few tendrils of the infamous mullet hanging over his shoulders slightly. When Lance became conscious of his wandering eyes he focused them on the cups, filling them with a shot of tequila each. Why did he keep staring at Keith, that was like the third or fourth time today? There’s no way he actually thought this guy was cute, with that hair and his stupid black clothes, and his bitter personality. No, he was just emotionally drained and loopy from today and all of Keith’s antics, that was it. A little of Grandma’s tequila will make it all better. 

Escaping his mind, Lance finally speaks up,

“ All right guys, tonight we are here to get trashed in the name of Keith, who has had quite the shitty day.”

“And getting shittier by the minute.”

“Shut up Keith! This isn’t about you!”

“What? You said this is for m—“

“Yah I know what I said! Any ways, what I was trying to say is that we are having a little fiesta tonight, and you three have been chosen to help me break into this tequila that my grandma secretly gave me. I was gonna save it, but I think we need it, plus it gave me an excuse to get Keith in that hat.” Lance breaks out into a fit of laughter and Keith kicks him in the side of his leg.

“Your Grandma is awesome Lance” Pidge points out before picking the cup up putting it to their lips. Pidge hates most things about college, the parties, the stupid people that think they are adults, but are vastly mistaken, but Pidge does enjoy a drink or two. That’s what happens when you get thrown into the social circles of kids 3 or 4 years older than you. Not that Pidge is dumb enough to be subject to peer pressure, but drinks are good, and Pidge knows their limits. 

Keith has given up on asking Lance questions that he probably won’t answer seriously so instead he puts the cup to his mouth, as does Hunk, and then Lance who begins counting to three in Spanish.

“Uno, Dos, Tres” The four of them take the shot, chasing them with slices of lemons that Hunk had quickly cut up. 

“Whooo! That was great, gracias Abuela!” Lance says, putting his hands together in a praying position and then kissing the bottle of tequila next to him.

“Lance speaks 80 percent more Spanish when he drinks, and even more so when he makes us throw these stupid stereotypical “fiestas.” Hunk chimes in, the lemon still wedged in his mouth partially.

“So this happens frequently?” Keith hesitantly asks. The shot didn’t really bother him, he’s had enough lonely nights of drinking to hold his drinks pretty well. 

“Yeah, why do you think I had the salsa and guac? Which by the way Lance, can’t we make something a little more, I don’t know, less Chevy’s and more authentic next time, this is just sad, it’s a sad fiesta” 

Lance looks at Hunk, totally hurt by what he just said about his food selection

“How dare you compare my guac to Chevy’s, low blow Hunk, low blow! Besides, who’s the half-Mexican one here? Oh yeah it's me, so I get to decide what we eat with this tequila, so just —.” Lance rips open the tostitos bag, dunks a chip in his homemade guac and playfully shoves it into Hunk’s mouth. 

“Hmmphh. pretty good huh?” Hunk nods, rolling his eyes at Lance and chucking another chip at him. 

Keith can’t decide if it’s funny or totally weird but before he can Lance is moved onto his next target.

Lance charges at Keith with the chip and Keith, pressed up against the side of the bed, has nowhere to go. Lance is practically in his lap, kneeling in between Keith’s legs, torso less than a foot from Keith’s, or so he imagines because all he can really see is Lance’s crazed smile and his hand choo choo training the chip at Keith’s lips. Keith turns his head away and tries to push Lance off of him but Lance has the advantageous position. Finally, Keith concedes and opens his mouth, the chip shoved in so fast he almost chokes on it. Lance blinks at him and smiles proudly and then backs off, returning to his seat.

Pidge cuts in, “Try that on me and you’ll regret it.”

Lance knows this is true and obeys.

After recovering from the aerial chip attack, Keith punches Lance’s arm hard enough for it to bruise and then grabs the bottle for another round of shots. 

The night continues this way for a while, shots, jokes, shots, bickering, shots, Lance and Keith alternating between doing embarrassing things that could either represent flirting or teasing, or both, and then both of them hiding their confused feelings and red faces.

Typical of Lance and Keith, the most competitive people on the planet, maybe even the galaxy, the night becomes an opportunity for a drinking competition. Keith takes a shot, Lance copies and so on. They get surprisingly far, both boys being surprisingly good at holding their liquor, before even Keith would admit, Lance was acting more ridiculous than usual, and he was remarkably a smidgen less bothered by it.

After a while it gets to a point where Hunk is passed out on his bean bag chair, still a tostito in his hand, and Pidge is next to him, head on the bean bag, feet sprawled on the floor. Hunk is surprisingly a light weight and Pidge’s body weight doesn’t rationally coincide with the amount of alcohol they’d like to consume.

“What do you mean Frodo is a better protagonists than Harry Potter? That’s bull shit!” Lance yells, pressing a pointed finger into Keith’s arm, face flushed from the alcohol, and words starting to mumble a little bit.

“ I said what I meant! Frodo is clearly better than Harry, no competition.”

“Pshhh, saying he’s better than Harry is like saying, I don’t know, that Rihanna is better than Beyonce, it’s just not true.”

“ I don’t even know who that is?”

“WhAAaa?—You don’t know who Beyonce is? What are you some kind of demon? Are you from outer space? Did you grow up some kind of cult without wifi and top 40 radio?!”

“ No! I just don’t listen to shitty pop music!”

“So you do know who they are! And don’t say that about the Queen Bey!” 

“Uggh, Lance you disgust me. And could you get any closer to me?” Keith pushes on Lance’s shoulders, which are now resting against his up against Hunk’s bed. Lance doesn’t move, partially because he is drunk to the point of probably falling over if he gets up and partially because he doesn’t want to move away from Keith. Maybe it’s the special tequila, which his Grandma did warn him about being quite potent, maybe it’s just that Keith and him had bonded a lot today, but Lance has come to terms with the fact that Keith is undeniably cute, no, cute doesn’t justify the beauty that is Keith. In his head, Lance is adamant that this isn't a full-on crush on Keith, they barely know each other, and besides his personality is completely frustrating to deal with, but Lance can’t deny the butterflies in his stomach that he feels right now, sitting close enough to Keith to hear him breathe. 

Keith doesn’t bother pushing Lance again, it probably won’t accomplish anything besides making him move closer, or worse, making him fall over on top of him. Both boys are too many shots to count into this little “fiesta” and only bad things could come out of being this close. Keith and Lance were practically the human incarnates of fire and ice, when fused together, eventually, if one didn't melt, the other should fizzle out. Right now Keith was melting, in fact, just the subtle touch of Lance's shoulder on Keith's was making the paler boy sweat bullets. Lance's skin was soft and warm where it met Keith's, sending a slight shiver up his spine. Everyone always thought of Keith as hot headed and volatile, but inside he feared he was cold as ice, unable to open up to anyone, unable to express himself, unable to love. He was infernal fire, scolding, wily, carelessly taunting its prey with biting embers. Lance was the kind of fire that you need when your cold, a soft warmth that fills you with light and makes your thoughts feel fuzzy. There couldn't be a crystal of ice in his heart and Keith knew that was true even after knowing him for this short time. The room is silent now save for the two boys’ breathes inhaling and exhaling one after the other, one on the down beat, one on the upbeat. Keith puts his head back on the side of the bed, closing his eyes, sleep threatening to take him away any moment. Lance looks over at him, soft pacific-blue eyes resting on Keith’s long eye lashes settled over his high cheek bones, then moving down his profile to look at his soft pink lips. Lance feels hot at the sight, heat radiating from his chest and to his face. God, he thinks, okay I totally want to kiss him. I want to kiss him so badly. 

Incessantly blabbing has been Lance’s coping mechanism for dealing with situations for his entire life, so thats what he does.

“ So…did you know Shiro before today?”

For a second Keith thinks he is just hearing voices, but when he opens his eyes and turns his head to look at Lance, the expectant look on the other boy’s face says otherwise.

“Umm…yeah…umm..it’s kinda—

“You don’t have to tell me about it you don’t want to, I was just wondering if you knew him. I mean I—I’d like to help, but I understand if it’s private.” Lance puts his hands up cautiously, worrying the subject might piss Keith off. The main thing Lance finds comforting in drinking is that it makes him put his shields down a bit, gives him the ability to interact with people without immediately putting up the cool guy act. Now, don’t be fooled, part of Lance is actually the over-confident, goofy, pest that he behaves like, but those traits are usually amplified on any given day that involves uncomfortable social interaction. 

“It’s okay. I’ve known Shiro for a long time, and when I went to talk to him we both said some things we shouldn’t have said, and then I blew up at him. That’s basically what happened before you came in. I don't really want to talk details right now if that’s okay.”

“Oh—yeah—No, that’s cool…I—uhh thanks for telling me that…that actually means a lot. People don’t really confide in me about things, except Hunk and Pidge sometimes. I guess I come off as untrustworthy…” Lance fades out, twidling his fingers, unsure of what to do now that the conversation got kind of dark.

“I think you probably come off as a blabber mouth, not really untrustworthy, even though I can see how the two fit together.” Keith chuckles and tries to lighten the mood a little by flicking Lance’s head. He’s not normally the one responsible for making the jokes, for caring if other people are happy, but seeing Lance sad is unnerving. It feels like the universe unraveling itself at the seam of Lance’s downturned mouth. Keith feels a tinge in his chest, a fluttering that caught him off guard so much that he physically put his hand up to it. Lance doesn’t notice, too entrenched in his thoughts and drunkenness. Keith can’t understand why Lance has such an effect on him. They had only known each other for two days, only talked about anything serious a handful of times, mostly bickered and picked fights with each other, but Keith felt like he knew Lance. It actually aggravated him that he didn’t know much about Lance personally. He had learned a couple of things tonight, that Lance was half-Mexican, that he had a cool grandma that condoned underage drinking, that he thought people didn’t trust him, but Keith wanted to know more about Lance, to be his friend. Friends cared about each other, they knew the other’s secrets and kept them, they hung out and did stupid things to pass the time. 

 

Keith glanced back over at Lance who had moved on to playing with the hem of his shirt, mouth now upturned into a faint smile, as if his shirt hem was as fascinating as the stars to an astronomer. Keith remembered how drunk they were. Sleep was consuming his body, his eyelids closing heavily each time he blinked, his body slouching further into the side of the bed, his head falling sideways onto Lance’s shoulder blade. He didn’t feel Lance move or flinch back, so Keith assumed he was already or about to pass out too. In a moment between consciousness and falling asleep a flicker of a thought came into Keith’s mind. Maybe being friends with Lance wasn’t enough. 

—————

Lance was fighting his eyelids to stay open, fighting his head from falling forward into his chest. He didn’t want to fall asleep before Keith, didn’t want to lose whatever drinking competition they were having. But just as he was about to nod off, he felt Keith’s soft hair graze his cheek, and a weight press onto his shoulder. Keith had dozed off, and god did he look cute. You could no longer see his vibrant dark eyes, but there were those eyelashes again lightly draping over his cheek bone. His hair is falling in soft tendrils over his forehead, and his body is pressed to Lance’s. Before he can cherish the moment any longer, Lance surrenders to the weight of sleep. His head falls to the side, resting on top of Keith’s. The room is filled with soft snores and melodic breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know they've only known each other for two days, but I promise, Klance "romance" stuff won't move unrealistically fast paced. Plus they're drunk by the end of the chapter. I just wanted their "bond" to kind of come off strong at the beginning because I think they have that undeniable attraction and pull.


	7. We Had a Bonding Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a late night of partying, Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge find themselves entirely too hungover to think about anything properly. So, when they wake up, all in the same room, some in compromising positions, dealing with the situation becomes more difficult than the engineering homework they all should have been doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story of my life right now, auto-correct constantly changing Pidge to Pig, Shiro to Shirt, and Lance to Lane.

Keith’s eyes flutter open to an empty room, completely white save for a panel on the wall to his right that is covered in buttons blinking red and green. He is immediately overwhelmed with panic once he fully takes in the sterile environment and the heavy metal doors barricading him in. The room feels strangely familiar and completely foreign at the same time. Blurry memories of the room flood through Keith’s mind, but they progressively become more and more disoriented with each passing second, panels of fogged glass crashing down, layering over broken images of the white room. Between rugged breathes, Keith closes his eyes, fighting his growing claustrophobia that threatens to paralyze him, forcing himself to focus on remembering, trying to find some way to get out. An image flashes in his mind, a small rounded window, dwarfed by the massive space craft to which it is attached. Keith extends his hand and presses it to the translucent glass, now taking notice that his own extremity is armored in a red and white sleeve. He looks behind him, eyes widening wildly at the dark abyss surrounding him. Being in space has been his dream for years, but at this moment the overwhelming vastness, the mystery, the darkness, it made Keith feel betrayed. Once again, he felt cornered, unable to inhale the air supplied from his helmet, choking. Keith reaches his hand to the window again, fingers pressing into the glass, trying to grasp on for stability. He looks in the window and sees himself, sitting on the floor, knees curled into his chest, experiencing a similar breathlessness. The other Keith turns his head and makes eye contact with him and then runs over to the window, extending a hand. They look at each other, mirror images, trying to find hope in the others’ eyes, one trapped in a prison cell, the other in space. When their fingers aligned on the glass, the vision explodes into flaring streams of light, and their bodies seemingly fuse, ghosts of each of them walking into the other and forming one. 

Keith is now running through the hallways of what seems like the space craft. His body is propelling him so fast that all he sees is white and beams of blue light racing past him. A hand is wrapping around his wrist, pulling him forward, guiding him through the maze of corridors. He tries to rip his arm away from the stranger, unsuccessfully, then screams to let him go, tears now streaming down his face. Without slowing down, the mysterious figure turns around to reveal the undeniable piercing eyes and white bangs that belong to Shiro. He smiles and Keith’s jaw drops in disbelief. So many questions pop into Keith’s head, but he can hardly make a noise, his throat contracting on his words until he is physically choking again. They stop running and Keith collapses on the floor. Shiro doesn’t turn around immediately, instead he remains completely still, arm still held backwards and fingers still clenched as if Keith’s arm was still in their possesion. Keith yelps for Shiro to help, screaming apologies, pleading for relief from the pain in his lungs and chest. Shiro’s stoic body finally comes back to life, joints releasing from their frozen positions in one sudden movement, as if a switch had just been turned back on. When the white haired man turns around to face Keith, his face is severe, eyes are a glowing yellow and boring holes into Keith’s deep cobalt ones. He charges towards Keith and clutches the boy’s shoulders with a death grip while his other arm swiftly moves towards his neck and his fingers, glowing a bright pink, graze Keith’s pale skin, a single drop of blood dripping down. Keith has never been so terrified in his life. As he struggles for air, feeling Shiro’s blade-like hand press further into his skin, his brain is rattling itself for answers, making him question if the physical pain outweighed the betrayal. Shiro’s robotic hand takes hold around Keith’s neck, stopping any remaining air from Keith’s lungs from traveling. Keith feels faint, his body starting to break down from lack of oxygen. He searches Shiro’s glowing eyes for the person behind him, the friend, the hero, the man Keith admired in so many ways, but he sees nothing but a monster. When he feels his body about to shut down completely and his eyes struggling to stay open, he hears a sudden blast. Shiro’s body jerks froward and his hand releases its grasp from Keith’s before he completely slumps over into the lap of the blue boy. Keith manages to tilt his head and gaze upwards to see another armored man running towards him, a very recently fired blaster gun in his hand. He is yelling things at Keith, but the words are muffled under his helmet. The soldier realizes the disconnect and reaches to take off his helmet, revealing a dark skinned boy with light brown hair and soft blue eyes that immediately connect with Keith’s. It only takes a second for Keith to recognize the man who just saved his life—Lance.

 

—————-

Keith’s eyes jolt open and his body lurches forward, his chest rising and falling rapidly as reality hits him hard. His limited range movement makes him feel trapped, still encapsulated in that prison cell, in that rigid armor, in Shiro’s grip. He starts to panic that the dream is not over, but when he looks down he sees that a passed out Lance is laying on his lap, almost all of his weight somehow concentrated in his torso and pinning Keith down to the floor. Keith’s first instinct would be to kick the sleeping boy off of him and slap him upside the head for falling asleep on him. But the sight of the sleeping boy calms Keith down from his haunting nightmare. His mind is desperate to detach itself from its own creations, making it difficult for Keith to do anything but watch as Lance sleeps peacefully on his lap. For how annoying Lance was when he was awake, asleep, he is the most serene sight Keith has ever seen. His face is relaxed, mouth slightly open as he snores quietly, light golden-brown eyelashes resting on freckled cheek bones. Keith fights back the urge to thread his fingers through Lance’s wavy, bedhead hair, stopping his hand right before he makes contact because he realizes how weird that would be. His mind is in a million different places right now, and doing something mortifyingly embarrassing isnn’t going to help recovery, especially with Lance, the kid who insists on using the same horrible jokes to exhaustion. Just as Keith starts to try to slip out from under Lance, the room is filled with high pitched ringing noises. Keith, along with the three other hungover students jump in shock, Lance instinctively clutching onto Keith's legs for dear life, and frantically search the room for the source of their imminent demise. A couple seconds, a lot of annoyance, and a symphony of groans an mumbled expletives later, the culprit of the crime is pinpointed to be a small robot that had rolled off the night stand and is now wheeling around the dorm, incessantly ringing in an earth shattering pitch. Lance springs his body up, hitting Keith in the jaw, and only looks back at Keith for a millisecond, completely red faced, before he takes off into a hog chase for the little robot. Keith only stares at the frazzled boy, looking like a scared deer in the middle of a road, still unsure about his state of consciousness. ( he could really use a spinning top right now) 

“Come here you little devil! I—gotcha—nope…I—Oooof—Gotcha!” Lance leaps at the robot, grabbing it in his left hand and then catching himself with his right as he trips over the empty bottle of tequila.

“Oh Dios mío…Fucking robot alarm clock.”

Keith chuckles at an irritated, hungover, altogether hot mess of a Lance. The calmness in him was gone the second he woke up and replaced with a new Lance that Keith hadn’t met yet. Hunk and Pidge had rolled off of their beanbags in the excitement and were looking back and forth between each other, totally confused about—well everything about this situation. Hunk looks at his watch out of habit and practically pisses his pants when he sees the time.

“Oh shit, it’s 9:50, I have class in ten minutes!” He gets up and runs around the room, ripping off his clothes, gathering his books, popping advil, totally unaware that the other three are watching. 

“Okay well i’m outta here before he starts changing his undies, I still haven’t recovered from when Lance mooned me last year.” Pidge exclaims, briskly starting to get up, grabbing their head upon realizing the state of their hangover, and then more slowly continuing to get up before exiting the dorm without any words. 

In two minutes Hunk is a new man, or at least disguised as one. He throws on his backpack and yells quick “See ya later” to Lance and Keith before slamming the door, to which Keith and Lance both wince at. 

Lance gets up and looks around the room at the mess that he is now left to deal with.

“Sooo, I guess it’s just me and you left to clean my room.” 

Keith darts his eyes at Lance, and pulls himself up to sit on Hunk’s bed.

“No, it’s you left to clean your own room, after your own party where you decided to get us all trashed, on a Monday night.” Keith now found himself grumpy and peeved at Lance, mostly just because he was the only one left in the room to be irritated about. But it was also slightly because of the dream, and the Lance being cute sleeping, and the embarrassing way they woke up and his general confusion about everything Lance. 

“Aww come on Keith, please help me, it’s hard to do anything with a hangover. The party was for you any ways. You could be a little grateful.”

That makes Keith even more annoyed. He gets up from the bed and starts walking out of Lance’s dorm. Without looking back, he grumbles,

“I’m taking a shower…See you in class, I guess.”

Lance is left alone in his dorm now, head pounding, surrounded by tortilla chips that are sprinkled all over the floor, face still flushed from the rude awakening of his god damned robot alarm clock that he had begged for for Christmas, and now hates with a passion. He ignores all of the mess and plops backwards onto his bed, or the giant heap of clothes that are his bed currently. He sighs deeply and replays the moment in his mind when he woke up with his head on Keith’s lap and the mortifying millisecond when their eyes met and Lance kind of felt overwhelmed with feels and Keith either looked equally embarrassed or filled with rage, it was hard to determine that kid’s emotions. 

Lance decides to nap again for a few seconds, forgoing the shower until later. Him and Keith only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 pm and that was a specialty lab for major’s that require a lot of teamwork. There could be business students, or medical students, or students who have to endure months of being on the same aircraft as their coworkers for unknown periods of time, such as, hmmm, pilots. Lance cann’t imagine being able to tolerate anyone that long in a confined space except maybe Hunk, maybe Pidge if they behaved and didn’t pick on Lance too much, definitely not mullet boy. They would probably make the ship explode just by picking a fight over music taste or who got the remote. 

Back in his dorm after taking a long shower, Keith throws himself onto his bed and takes a few solid moments to clear his mind, the colors and sounds and tastes of the last 24 hours having had declared anarchy on his attempt to be "put-together" this year. He falls asleep in his bed, hair still wet, spiderman towel hanging off his waist, fucks given, 0. 

—————

At 12:30, a new, fresh, well fresh as a hungover male college student without any shame can be, Lance, steps out of his dorm and walks toward’s Keith’s to see if he wants to walk together to class, since Keith doesn’t really know how to get around yet. Lance had picked out the easiest outfit he could find, red vans, semi-clean skinny jeans and a T-shirt with Iron Man on it. He liked Tony Stark, obviously because he reminded Lance of himself, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. Well, he was working on some of those but still. 

“Keith, you in there? I thought we could walk to class, maybe grab sandwiches on the way? Keith?” 

After a couple of minutes pass with nothing but silence behind Keith’s door, Lance figures Keith could either have already left, rude, or is asleep again, stupid. He jiggles the door handle and finds that the door swings open, he really is stupid. Lance’s eyes grow wide when he sees Keith, pretty much naked except for the spiderman towel hanging dangerously low down on his waist, sprawled out on the bed. 

Lance erupts into laughter, holding onto Keith’s desk for balance because of the sight he has just walked into, not considering the repercussions of what will happen when Keith wakes up, which happens instantaneously with the first cackle. 

Keith jolts awake for the nth time today and his eyes dart around the room taking in the scene, making his cheeks flush red for, also, the nth time today. Lance has about lost his ability to stand up, his eyes are tearing up and his hand is holding his stomach. 

“What the fuck are you doing in here?”

“I should ask you the same thing, oh my god!” Lance spouts out in between laughs

Keith is standing up by now and self consciously grabs his plunging towel, pulling it up higher on his waist when he realizes Lance is pointing at it and smirking.

“I-I…fell asleep, in my towel, I guess, shut up! You’re the one who broke into my room!”

Lance lifts his hands up apologetically, “ Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to see if you wanted to walk to class, and you wouldn’t answer so I jiggled the door and it opened and then well, you were, you were—pfft.” Escaped laughter interrupts Lance from finishing the sentence.

“Uggh, just shut up and get the hell out of my room would ya!” 

The furious glare emitting from Keith’s eyes was enough to scare the shit of Lance. He would normally egg Keith on for a good fight, finally give that emo mullet jerk a taste of his superior fighting skills, but today wasn’t really the day to test that out. Lance would at least admit to himself that he was in pain and groggy, and Keith looked like a feral bull ready to rip Lance apart into shreds if he waives any more red flags in his direction today.

“Fine!” Lance begins backing out of the room, smirk still locked onto Keith.

“Nice towel by the way, if it had been Captain America we would have had to fight” He runs out of the room and slams the door shut in case the raging bronco decided to stampede.

Lance paces around in the hallway for a couple of minutes, not sure if he should still wait for Keith, or if the almost indecent exposure episode was the last straw of Keith’s tolerability for him. Lance starts to make his way down the hallway to the elevator when he hears a door creak open slightly, revealing a clothed Keith. He is wearing blue skinny moto jeans, a tight black t-shirt and his red jacket. 

“Hey! The least you could do today is show me how to get to class you dingus!”

Lance’s faces lights up a little and he stops in his place, waiting for Keith to catch up. Something about Keith looks odd, but Lance can’t quite figure it--oh, his slightly damp hair is pulled into a pony-tail--and it’s enough to render Lance silent for a couple seconds. Okay, he really did that, just through me for a loop with an unexpected, totally not, okay totally, definitely, really hot pony-tail. Lance never thought he’d think that, especially about a guy, but somehow Keith made it criminal. 

“Wow, I called you a name and you didn’t say something stupid back, you’re learning young padawan.” Keith pats Lance on the shoulder and passes him, moving forward to press the elevator button. 

Lance snaps out of it and they both hop on once the doors open and a group of even more hungover guys stumble out, still hyped about the night out they had. Lance and Keith curiously watch as the guys walk down the hall hooting and hollering, brofisting, talking about some girl’s “life-changing tits”. Keith thinks they sound more like cavemen than college students. Lance equally agrees but also wishes he could be one of them for a day, just to try it out. It's times like this when he realizes that he is still a total nerd, a mind blowingly attractive, cool, flirting expert nerd, but still nowhere close to being the cool jock. 

 

“Don’t worry Keithy, i’m just saving my insults for later...when my head doesn’t feel like it’s wedged under an elephant’s ass cheeks.”

“That was suspiciously too specific Lance, care to elaborate?”

“Shut it mullet, it was an expression.”

“A weird one, and don’t ever call me Keithy again.”

“Hmm, don’t like that, how about Keithy poo?” Lance says, smirking and then poking Keith in the side.

Keith slaps his hand away and glares at Lance. “Fuck off! I’m seriously going to end up punching you in the face if the rest of today goes like this morning.”

Lance retreats a little bit, being careful not to send Keith over the edge, a task he has been making a conscious effort to do since Keith’s fainting incident. It was weird, Lance holding back for Keith, the one person that could probably actually put up a good fight with Lance verbally and physically. But Lance sees a fragility in Keith that no one else did, and even though it is very tempting to test the waters of Keith’s tolerance, he doesn't want to break him, doesn't want to do whatever Shiro had done to him. So, playful banter was the best thing he could get away with, especially today. 

“Again with the face violence, what do you have against this beautiful piece of art?”

“I’m finding new things I hate about it every time I see you.” Keith said and smirked evilly at Lance.

“Jerk!”

The elevator is silent, the descent to the first floor seeming to take forever. This time the two boy’s breathes are in harmony, inhaling and exhaling together. They both inhale and then simultaneously speak,

“Keith” “Lance”

“Yeah?” “Huh?”

“Um, no, you can-”

“No, it’s nothing, go ahead.”

Keith finally speaks up, “ I just wanted to say...well, you know, um, thanks for last night. It was actually kind of fun despite you being a dumb ass and letting us drink a whole bottle of your grandma’s radioactive tequila.” He nervously puts his hand on the back of his neck, waiting for Lance to say something to relieve the awkwardness.

“Haa, yeah I’m pretty sure you and I drank at least three-quarters of it alone. It’s going to take me all day to recover, I can barely lift my head all the way up…” Lance smiles and searches for the rest of his words.

After a few moments he speaks up again, “You’re totally invited to the next fiesta by the way, if you wear the hat of course… I mean, I didn’t just invite you because of pity or anything like that. I didn’t want you to think that--err, just yeah, you can hang out with us whenever, if you want. But just know, you’re also my new rival, and i’m gonna kick your ass at whatever the next challenge is.” Lance has his hands curled up into fists at his sides, showing his eagerness to win more than any kind of annoyance towards Keith. 

Keith just smiles and replies with a, “Thanks, I guess.”

The elevator dings, signing its arrival at the first floor. The doors open and Lance charges forward, but not before sticking his leg out in front of Keith’s and making the paler boy trip. Keith balances himself and looks up to see the back of Lance fading off into the distance. He mutters under his breath and then races ahead to catch up with the asshole. 

“Hey, I thought we had a bonding moment!” Keith yells after Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still figuring out Lance's background, i.e his culture and how fluent he is in Spanish. I think his mom likes to speak it to keep the kids in touch with their culture and so he speaks it a lot at home. But, he's also repressed it a little in the school environment because he would get made fun of in childhood so he really only lets it slip out when he's comfortable, in this case drunk. There will be more on his family later.


	8. Trust Me I'll Catch You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance fuck up again on the second day of school, first being late, second being in the wrong class, third, Lance sexually assaulting their TA with his not so subtle, wandering eyes. The day gets increasingly worse hour by hour until one of the two boys can't take it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is all over the place tbh. Prepare for an emotional rollercoaster. Also prepare for the sexy teacher Allura you never knew you wanted.

Once again, right as class is supposed to start, Lance and Keith hurl themselves through the door of the lecture hall, both getting momentarily caught in the doorway because they try to squeeze through at the same time, and fail. 

“Owww, your bony shoulder is practically impaling me!” Keith shouts as he tries to nudge Lance out of the way with his elbow.

“ Yeah well it wouldn’t be if you weren’t so dense! Watch it, you almost squished my sandwich!”

“Did you just call me fat?”

“Ooooh, is Keith self conscious? So what if I did? Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Keith grabs the already flattened sandwich with his free hand and proceeds to squish it completely, jelly oozing out of the sides, and then shoves it in Lance’s mouth.

“That’s what.”

Lance turns his head as much as he can to glare out Keith, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich holding on for dear life between his teeth. After a few more seconds Keith manages to squeeze Lance enough into the door frame to free himself. He is exhausted and class hasn’t even started. In fact, no one is even in the classroom, but at least that means no one just saw the two hungover idiots wedge themselves in a door. 

Lance mumbles behind a sound barrier of bread and peanut butter,

“Schpeaking ofmmm classhh, where is mmmeveryone?” *annoying smacking sounds that make Keith physically repulsed*

“Swallow your fucking food!...Wait, I never even said anything about class, do I need to add mind reading to the list of reasons why you’re a weirdo?”

“What can I say, i’m a man of many gifts…”Lance wiggles his eyebrows and then continues, “But wait, seriously, where is everyone, this has to be the right class???”

“Umm, good question. Maybe it was cancelled?”

“No, it’s the first day. Oooh wait, I got you to skip class and I didn’t even have to try, YAAASS”

“Lance, shut the fuck up, for just like five seconds, you’re giving me an aneurysm.”

Just when Lance starts to make a face, a woman, in her mid twenties, with long silver hair and warm brown skin, a pencil skirt, and a purple button up shirt that’s about to pop a button in her chestal region, walks into the room. Lance’s jaw drops to the ground as well as the rest of the gooey pb&j sandwich and he grabs onto Keith’s arm for dear life as his legs turn to jelly. Keith on the other hand looks mortified by his new “rival’s” less than conspicuous reaction and the fact that the woman obviously looks like a teacher of some sort, probably about to ream them out for goofing around in an empty classroom. Then, another thought flickers into his mind. Oh God! I hope she doesn’t think me and Lance were--NO it obviously doesn’t look like that! Then he makes the mistake of looking over at Lance who is clinging onto his arm, face flushed from his ears to the tip of his nose, mouth still wide open, ready to catch flies, and he loses hope in trying to save the situation. 

“Oh, boys! Are you alright, you look...flustered?”

Keith keeps his head down, refusing to speak, avoiding saying anything that might get him in more trouble. He nudges Lance’s arm and whispers so only he can hear,

“Say something dumbass!”

Lance snaps out of it enough to find simple words, although he has no idea what language they might come out in.

“Umm, We’re fine heh-heh, just...lost?” He shrugs his shoulder and then looks down at Keith who at this point looks like a frightened turtle, reclining into his shell as far as he can go. 

“Okay well, I might be able to help if either of you are--” she breaks her words and looks down at a clipboard she was carrying. “Keith or hmmm, Lance?” The way she says Lance’s name makes him sound far too dignified, like royalty, it’s comedic actually. 

Both of the boys finally make eye contact with her and nod their heads.

“So you are them?”

They nod again, Lance desperately holding back from saying a stupid pick up line somewhere along the lines of "So, do you have a name or can I call you mine?" 

“Well, you two are late. Didn’t you get the email that class was supposed to meet outside on the mall?”

Keith finally speaks up, clearing his throat first, “No, I guess not. I’m sorry about that, I’m Keith, I just transferred this year and i’m still getting my school email sorted out.” 

She looks at Lance for an explanation but he he has already resumed his dazed, malfunctioning, state of adoration, or more accurately perving out. Keith speaks for him,

“I don’t know what his excuse is other than being an idiot.” He deadpans. 

The woman giggles, “It’s fine, I came back here to make sure everyone got the memo. Today is just introduction stuff, so the professor won’t be angry. I’m Allura by the way, i’m the TA, you two are partners though, fortunately...or unfortunately?”

She turns around starts walking out of the classroom, “Follow me boys”

Once she has passed the barrier of the door frame, Keith elbows Lance right in the stomach,

“You’re being a fucking creep, come on!”

“Owww, damn, she’s so hot, you think I should ask her out?”

“Did you listen to anything she just said? Even if you didn’t just weird her out with your pervy face, she’s the TA, she’s like gotta be at least 25, and definitely not interested by the way.”

Lance just brushes him off and they start to follow Allura out the building 

“Psshh, TA, Shmmeeeayy, nothing stands between a Sanchez and love. The confines of social norms are but faint lines in my eyes, suggestions really, boring ones. I just go with the flow you know, i’ll date anyone I feel the chemistry with and her electron was definitely attracting my proton if you know what I mean?”

“Uggh, I don’t even wanna try to know, Lance.” Keith facepalms, pretending his hand can hide him from his embarrassment, well actually, the embarrassment Lance passed onto Keith because he’s a shameless idiot. 

The boys are now out in the middle of the mall, surrounded by their class of probably 100 or so other students. Lance resumes making ga ga faces at Allura after she excuses herself to go get the assignment sheet for them from the professor. 

She returns, handing a sheet with a list of team-building exercises for Lance and Keith to complete for today. They’re mostly a mix of physical and mental “trust” exercises, your basic trust falls and two truths and a lie. Keith was definitely going to “accidentally” drop Lance a couple of time. Lance was going to do the same. 

Five minutes into the activities and things were already going awfully. 

“Gahh, Fuck! Lance are you even going to pretend you’re trying to catch me. This is a grade you know?” Sitting in the grass, Keith looks behind him to see his newly sworn enemy, Lance, oh staring at Allura again, hands still in the catching position, completely unaware that Keith already fell flat on his ass for the fifth time. The first couple of times, Lance did it on purpose. The third and fourth times, he was too slow, and the fifth time he was...distracted.

“Lance!”

“Huh, oh, why are you on the ground before I catch you?”

Keith’s eyebrows somehow furrow even more, eyebrows practically threading themselves together at the wrinkle in the middle. 

“I swear to god, if you don’t get a nosebleed from staring at our TA’s ass, I’m going to make sure it happens with my fist!” 

Keith and Lance move on to the truth and a lie activity, hoping mental trust exercises will work out more than the physical. They are wrong, as usual.

“Lance, you’re supposed to tell the truth about two things and ONE lie! We’ve gone over this like ten times!”

“Uggh, what’s the fun if I can’t make up fun lies? Plus, the second lie was almost the truth except for that it was with twins, not triplets!”

“So you’re just admitting you’re still a slut, but you’re just worse at it?” Keith crosses his arms and smirks at Lance. At least if he’s gotta be miserable and pissed off right now, he can make Lance miserable and pissed off too. And is it just him or is it really hot out now, like sun melting your face off, makes you extremely irritable, hot?

“ At least i’m not a loner who pretends he’s such a hot commodity, but actually just sits around and listens to moody music all day.”

“Where do I come off as pretending to be anything? I don’t give a fuck about what other people think.” 

“Yeah right.”

Despite the less than friendly direction the conversation has turned, both boys are still somewhat aware that it is all in good humor, to some small degree. They’ve abandoned the assignment by this point, the teacher wouldn’t know anyways with all of these students, and now they are sitting in the grass, slandering each other with meaningless words and occasionally throwing a kick or punch at the other when the conversation gets out of control. After an hour, class is about done. Lance is covered in the grass that he attempted to put on Keith’s head, but then got a face full of because Keith is a ninja that can’t be pranked. The professor excuses everyone, and Allura follows him hastily when she sees Lance about to get up to come talk to her. Keith laughed about that for a solid five minutes. Lance is stewing, butt still planted in the grass, arms crossed, no intention of leaving until Keith gets up first so he can trip him or something.

Keith’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He forgot he had even grabbed it this morning in all of the chaos. It’s not like anyone ever contacts him anyways. He clicks the display on and there’s at least five text notifications crowding the screen. At the top of each one, From: Shiro. Keith sucks back in air, freezing up at the sight, not sure if he wants to throw his phone as far away as possible or devour the messages as fast as he can. What could Shiro want? To apologize? To tell Keith he overreacted? To blow up at him now after thinking everything over. Keith hesitantly decides to open the messages. He curls his hand over the phone, trying to eliminate the glare from the sun and to close himself off from the world momentarily. 

From:Shiro 3:17 pm

Hey Keith. I know you are mad at me and you probably don’t want to talk about it, judging by the way you left class, but I just wanted to say that I’m sorry and I get it. It wasn’t my place to tell your secrets to the university, but I did because I wanted what was best for you. 

From:Shiro 3:18 pm

Anyways, I don’t want this rift to get in the way of your studies so i’ve decided to go back to the Garrison. Maybe it was a bad idea for me to come in the first place. I’m sure we can find another pilot though to help Coran teach you all the basics.

From:Shiro 3:25 pm

You probably need your space, so i’ll see you maybe at the end of the year? I’d like to be there when you get into the Garrison program. Maybe then you can introduce me to your new friends, especially the one whom’s arm you almost ripped off the other day. Sorry, again.

,Shiro

Keith’s eyes were filling up with tears, and as much as he could try there was nothing he could do to prevent them from spilling down his face. He felt heat building up inside him like a bomb had gone off and the flames of the blast were searching through his core for ways to escape. He felt hurt, and sad, and angry, and every other way he had felt about Shiro from the moment he met him, all at once. It was overwhelming to say the least and here he was in the middle of fucking campus, about to pass out or vomit, or make a scene, once again. It was at this realization that he stuffed the wretched phone into his pocket like it was poison and got up quickly, turning to run to, anywhere. 

Lance had been watching Keith with lidded eyes and a concerned expression since the moment Keith looked at his phone and seemingly shattered in front of him. Without hesitating, Lance springs up and follows Keith, quickly catching up to him even though Keith was running at an almost inhuman speed. He’s yelling Keith’s name but is entirely unsure of what to do next. He settles for reaching out to Keith’s shoulder and tugging as hard as possible, knocking Keith off balance so he rams into Lance’s chest. 

“Fuck off Lance.” Keith pushes off Lance’s chest and starts to try and walk away, but Lance manages to grab his shoulder again and turns him around.

“Hold on Keith, I just want to help. What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

At this, Keith gets even smaller, black hair enveloping his face so Lance can only see the outlines of his features and his quivering, chapped lips downturned, his expression vacant but nonetheless disgustingly sad. 

“Keith? It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything. Is there anything I can do?”

Keith stumbles back, legs giving out for a moment, but he catches himself before falling to the ground. His emotions are bubbling up inside, overpowering any judgement, clouding his mind so that he is only running on instinct. Instinct tells him to survive, to do whatever it takes to stop the pain, to save himself and don’t hold back. So he does that.

“Keith?” Lance questions again, trying to find a way to separate Keith from his head for a second.

“What the fuck do you want Lance? What you possibly want from me right now? You know what you can fucking do for me? Huh? You can get the hell away and never come back! Leave me alone for--for forever, the fuck do I care? You annoying, idiotic, cocky, selfish, prick! All you’ve done is make my life hell since the second I met you, so you know what you can do, you can leave me the fuck alone and go back to your dumb ass shenanigans with your stupid friends. It’s a surprise you even have two of them you little shit! You think you’re so cute and charming and funny, but I can see through it all and under that act is just a self-conscious needy loser that wants attention because he’ll never be good enough to warrant it for real. You don’t have real friends, you just trick everyone into thinking they like you, or worse, bothering them enough to put up with you. But, i’m not gonna fucking put up with your shit!” 

Keith stops for a second to push Lance, backing him up until he slams into the side wall of the Math building. Keith’s face is now filled with fury, a terrifying scowl and hateful eyes replacing the tears, spitting rage at Lance any way he can. 

“Even if I just wrecked my relationship with the only family i’ve ever had, there’s no way i’d want to torture myself enough to let you fill that. You’re nothing but a rival, like you said. Another spot to compete with for a chance to be a pilot. Except, oh wait, you’re not even that because you’ll never be anything more than a cargo pilot. I’ve seen your scores for the Garrison’s aptitude tests, they post them online and I remember your name now on the list, at the bottom. You’ll be lucky if you even make it past this year.”

Keith lets go of Lance and stomps off. Lance stands frozen against the walls, fighting to hold back tears, determined not to break in front of all these people. He just got shredded to bits by Keith and yet his stupid pride won’t let him feel, won’t let him be human, not in public. He catches his breath and runs, maybe back to his dorm, maybe somewhere else. The scenery is passing him by in streaks of color, details turning into watercolor paintings behind his tears. He runs until he can’t anymore. 

Keith does the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, i'm glad that's over. What will happen next, I don't know??
> 
> P.S Once again, Keith is a little OD but i don't care


	9. Constellations In Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith fucked up. He fucked up big time, and he doesn't realize it until it's almost too late. Hunk and Pidge take their roles as mother hens to Lance very seriously. Lance is having a very un-Lance type of day. Sorry, I don't want to give away the plot in this summary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a Drama Mama sometimes, sorry not sorry

Lance’s lanky legs begin to feel like actual noodles underneath of him, the sheer momentum of his body propelling forward preventing them from caving in and sending him barreling to the ground. He doesn’t know how long he’s been running, where he is running to and when his eyes had lost the ability to tear up anymore. It’s the agonizing burning sensation in his chest, which had been slowly building up for a while, that convinces him to stop and collapse on an old wooden bench in a desolate area of campus. The lonely bench belongs to a small garden area that seems vaguely familiar. He can barely make out the silhouette of the art building a few hundred feet away where he use to wait outside to say hello to this pretty red-head girl during freshman year named Clair. She usually waved back, all cute-like, until the day Lance saw her walk out of the building, portfolio in one hand, tall, blonde, freakishly muscular jock in the other. Lance weighed the possibility of winning her her over with the possibility of getting his ass kicked and decided to abandon the art building entirely, forever, well until today.

When his body crashed down to meet the worn down seat of the bench, the overwhelming emotions that he had been able to push back with pain, rippled through his body, making it difficult to breathe. He tells himself to take deep breathes, to count, to distract himself, all the things that his mother told him to do back at home when it got bad. Unfortunately he isn’t home, and the reality that his mom and his family are across the country, and that Keith hates him, and that everyone hates him, and that he’s nothing more than a worthless speck in the universe, and...well everything he hates about himself, slaps him in the face and seizes his breathes once again. He can’t focus on the steps because Keith’s words replay through his mind as the rest of the world fades around him. “You’ll be lucky if you even make it past this year!”, “You don’t have real friends, you just trick everyone into thinking they like you”, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you...The smallest part inside of Lance knows that Keith was just spouting out words, some actually about Lance, some about maybe Shiro, some about himself, but the other part knows that most of what he said was true in some ways. Lance has been putting on an act since he can remember, since the first time he got bullied in elementary school and played it off cool, since when his dad left their family and he had to be brave, since anxiety started making it hard to deal with anything that got too real, like this moment. But despite the confident facade, Lance was never fake, never trying to trick people into thinking he was someone else, never trying to fool people into liking him. He has always taken careful effort into being himself, he just chooses to show certain aspects of his personality more than others, because that’s what everyone wants to see...or so he thought. Even though a lot of people are attracted to Lance’s boisterous personality, thinking of him as the golden retriever of people, he was used to getting flack for it on occasion. It’s not like Keith had been the first person to tell him he was obnoxious or to fuck off, in fact the latter remark happened on almost the daily, but this time hurt for some reason. Keith’s words had a venomous bite to them and now Lance, currently feeling the physical and emotional effects of it coursing through his body, is at a loss for what to do. Anything other than to remain sitting here, right in this spot, until the tears dry up again, and the night’s darkness makes him invisible, and his soft, desperate eyes can devour the stars, tracing the constellations that are engrained in his memory, until he feels numb, seems unreachable. 

So he does just that.

______

Keith has been staring at the ceiling of his dorm room for three hours, counting the white tiles over and over again, hoping the repetition brings about some sort of epiphany about what he’s supposed to feel. Feelings aren't really his strong suit. Actually, feelings are his strong suit in the sense that Keith has a lot of them and they’re only able to present themselves in absolute outbursts of emotion. It’s interpreting the feelings that Keith has troubles with. Yeah sure, he’s angry. He’s angry with Shiro for abandoning him without giving him a chance to try and talk about it, which he realized he was surprisingly willing to do for a change. He’s angry with Lance for, well he doesn’t actually know at this point...For making him say what he said? After counting the tiles for the twenty second time, the epiphany comes in the form of a wave of nausea that sends Keith running to bathroom, clenching his stomach, trying not to lose it before he hovers over the toilet and dry heaves for ten minutes. Nothing ever comes out, which makes it worse, the guilt and the anger and the whole day bubbling up inside of him, twisting at his insides, making him gag on his own words. He had been in the wrong, something that physically hurt Keith to admit to himself. Shiro had fucked up slightly, and Keith deserved to be angry with him, but in the end, Shiro was trying to help Keith, like he always did, like he always had, like he was always going to continue to do. It wasn’t until Keith’s head was practically shoved in the toilet that he realized that he overreacted and that he should have just enjoyed having Shiro around again after years of separation….and that he definitely shouldn’t have spammed Shiro’s phone with nasty grams (more like every tidbit of colorful vocabulary and phrase he had learned in all his life, which didn’t even form coherent sentences) after he got that, in retrospect, pretty heart-felt text message. Realizing what he needed to do about Shiro should have made Keith feel better, but it didn’t. In fact he feels dizzy and sits on the floor of the bathroom, looking like death and also feeling like it’s in his near future. He’s lying down, body splayed on the tile floor, forehead dripping in sweat with his long, usually soft bags plastered down over his eyes, when his phone starts buzzing in his pocket. He ignores it at first but then plucks the phone out of his back pocket after it keeps going off. It’s Hunk and Pidge group texting him, and there’s several messages that he missed. 

6:33 pm  
Hunk: Hey Keith! Are you and Lance hanging out? We were supposed to study and order pizza tonight?

7:01 pm

Hunk: Okay i’m ordering pizza, tell Lance if he doesn’t want me to get pineapple on it, it’s the last chance.

7:05 pm

Hunk: Okay too late, I ordered it anyway. 

7:22 pm

Hunk: Umm, are you even with Lance right now? He won’t answer any texts or calls. I haven’t seen him since this morning. Are you in your dorm?

7:23 pm

Pidge: Are you guys making out or something? I’m gonna break into your dorm room if neither one of you answers in the next hour.

It’s currently 8:33 pm, and the most recent texts make Keith a little worried

8:30 pm

Hunk: Okay seriously, just answer a damn text. Do you know where Lance is? He still won’t answer and i’m getting kind of worried bc none of our neighbors have seen him. And the fact that you won’t answer either means you are both being kidnapped or...idk?

8:31 pm

Pidge: OR making out! ;)

Pidge: But seriously, just tell us bc Hunk is freaking out!

It’s 8:35 pm when Keith hears the door to his room pounding and a mixture of a panicked voice and another (obviously Pidge) shouting slightly less concerned, slightly more obscene things. 

When he hears the words hanky panky coming from outside the door, Keith just up and heads towards the door, dizziness flooding back to him with the fast movement. He opens the door and gives Hunk and Pidge a confused expression.

Hunk grabs Keith into a hug while Pidge peeps in the door, hoping to find a flustered Lance on the bed or something. They’re disappointed when Keith opens the door all the way and to their surprise, no Lance.

“Dude! Finally! We we’re getting worried!”  
Pidge pokes a finger at Hunk’s arm and says, “No, you we’re getting worried.” They point at Keith and add in, “You look like death by the way, are you okay? Do anything...draining, lately?”

Hunk jabs Pidge in the side and then cuts in again before Keith can speak, “Is Lance in here, he won’t answer his phone?” 

Keith’s stomach drops. Hearing Hunk say the words out loud somehow hits Keith a lot harder than the barrage of texts. 

His eyes focuses on Hunk’s and his hand goes to the back of his neck, a sign of nervousness. 

“Umm, no, I haven’t seen him since after class…”

Pidge face shifts from curious to the same worried look Hunk is sporting, “ Well, where is he then? Didn’t you guys have class together? He doesn’t really go anywhere without us, or at least without his phone?” Their eyes close in on Keith, expecting some kind of answer that will relieve them of their uneasiness. 

“Well, actually, ummm, we-- I--uh, I kind of got in a small...well, bad...argument with him after class and he took off running.”

Pidge just yells, “Fuck”, and Hunk takes a step closer to Keith, still looking worried, but also with a bit of anger inside of him and the protectiveness of a mama bear willing to do anything for their cub. 

Keith realizes at this moment that Hunk could probably knock him out cold if he wanted to, despite Keith’s agility and fairly adequate strength. He scrambles for words before that can happen.

“Look, before you get mad, it was all my fault, I take responsibility for that, but Lance, well you know, he was being...Lance and he was annoying me and I flipped out at him, like full rage, and it wasn’t even about him really, I tend to get angry easily and I don’t know where he went, he just ran off…” Keith found himself unable to stop rambling, trying to explain himself, if not for Hunk and Pidge, for himself. It was weird, the words felt foreign on his tongue, apologies, groveling for forgiveness, talking about his feelings, it’s everything Keith hates, but it seems necessary. 

“ It...I just kind of realized how much of an ass I was. I’m sorry.” As the last few words faded, Keith drops his head down into his chest, waiting for a response from Lance’s motherly mob squad.

Pidge rolls up their sleeves, “Oh i’m mad alright! What the fuck Keith? Lance is an ass too, but he’s a sweet ass, I mean..Ughhh, I thought you’d be tapping that ass not kicking it!”

Keith looks mortified, “What? Why would you think th-

Hunk cuts in, “ Pidge, shut up for a second! So Lance just ran off? He didn’t say anything?”

“No, well I walked off first, but I heard him run off behind me.”

“Fuck, shit, wait fuck! Pidge, what if he’s not okay? I mean, what if he’s...not OKAY!?”

Pidge immediately turns frantic, “Oh man, fuck… we gotta find him. By now he’s probably a mess.”

Keith mumbles mostly so only he can hear, “He was probably a mess right after.” But I didn’t look back.

Hunk and Pidge start down the hallway, but not before Pidge grabs Keith’s wrist and slams his dorm room shut. 

“Where are you taking me?”

Pidge sighs annoyedly, “To find Lance, duh. This is your fault, you fix it.”

“Uhh, I...I--I don’t know if I can. He probably doesn’t want to talk to me.Ever.” 

“Oh you’re going to talk to him, alright. You’re going to tell him everything you just told us. Otherwise he’ll be...well he’ll just be...not Lance, until you work it out.”

As they are running out of the dorm building towards, well, everywhere Keith supposes, a million questions wrack his brain, but one escapes his mouth,

“Umm...What did you mean by what if he’s not okay?”

Hunk exhales deeply and his words sound come out jagged, “Lance sometimes gets really bad anxiety, like really bad, usually in social situations where, I don’t know, someone screams in his face!” 

Pidge adds, “He’s been really good since college started, he doesn’t take meds or anything anymore, but Hunk told me about his experiences in high school, and we’re kind of protective of him about it. He’s like a completely different Lance. He usually escapes situations when he pushes people over the edge with his Lanceness, because he doesn’t want to deal with confrontation, but he probably didn’t expect you to...whatever you did.”

If there was a specific facial expression for shame, Keith had it. With his sometimes volatile emotions, usually came a residual numbness that prevented him from feeling bad about anything he did. YOLO, right. (I’m so sorry, just ignore that) But, Hunk and Pidge sure knew how to rip his beating heart out and stomp it in the dirt. And, he’s pretty sure if he had looked back at Lance instead of stomping away, the normally beaming, boy’s face would have stomped it right there and then, if in fact Lance is actually off somewhere having an anxiety attack over Keith’s stupidness. Keith mentally slams his head over and over again into the brick walls of each building they pass. They stop in front of the central library. 

“Okay Hunk and I are gonna go scope out some of Lance’s favorite hiding spots, your ass gets to walk around outside in the heat and look for him.” Pidge is not playing games anymore. 

Keith just nods. Before his two dissapointed peers walk off Hunk turns around to Keith, Pidge continues walking, checking their phone to see if Lance has replied.

“Lance likes nature and stuff, so he’s probably outside, looking at stars or something.”

“Why...Then why are you guys looking inside? Don’t you know him best? Where he would be?”

Hunk smiles, just a fraction of his lip curving upward. “Well, I kind of want you to find him and tell him and tell him you’re sorry, or whatever you want to tell him. I don’t know what this is about, but Lance won’t be satisfied if just Pidge and I come worrying after him. He’s not that type of person. He’ll want to talk to you, even if he acts like he doesn’t.” 

Keith nods his head and turns around, on a quest to find Lance and tell him something, he doesn’t know what really. 

Keith trudges back down the hill of the magical tree that Lance had taken him to the first day they met. He thought for sure, he would be there. He didn’t know much about Lance personally, but he knew that that tree was just, just so Lance. He’s been looking for over an hour, checking every picnic area, every big tree that seemed perfect for climbing, every courtyard, but no Lance. He’s getting tired, tired of walking in this suffocating heat, tired of keeping his eyes open for Lance, who he didn’t even know how to deal with if he found him, tired of feeling guilty. He’s at the opposite side of campus from their dorms and he’s about to turn around, to look back somewhere he already checked, to give up, when he sees a garden peeking out from the side of an old brick building. A flicker of hope glimmers inside of him and he jogs over to the greenery, trying to distinguish any sort of human silhouette from nature in the very dimly lit area. He walks around in circles, getting frustrated and annoyed, beating himself up for the upteenth time tonight. It had to be Lance of all people that he blew up at, Lance, his bubbly new neighbor that was way too inviting to him the day they met, Lance, the boy who invited him to a fiesta to drink his badass grandma’s tequila, Lance, the boy he barely knew but inexplicably let him sleep on his lap for a few minutes after he woke up. Entranced in his thoughts, he walks past an old wooden bench, unaware that a sobbing blue eyed boy is staring at him.

“Keith?”

Keith turns back around, facing the boy, in disbelief that Lance just appeared out of nowhere on this lonely bench. 

“Lance?”

He faintly sees Lance brush his hands over his face, presumably cleaning it up.

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”

“I--Uh I was looking for you. We’re all looking for you. I’m--”

“You’re what Keith, sorry? Sorry you screamed at me and made me look like an idiot, sorry you took your own stupid anger about god knows what out on me, sorry you stooped so low? Sorry you feel so guilty and that you had to go looking for me to feel better about it? Which one?” Lance looks hurt, on the brink of shattering into pieces, but his voice is no longer quivering, it’s eerie and biting. 

Keith’s hands play around with his jacket sleeves and his gaze goes back and forth between Lance’s and the ground. 

“All of them, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I mean all of them. Look, Lance, I know you probably think i’m bullshitting you but i’m really sorry, about everything, literally everything I said that I can remember wasn’t true. I don’t even know you enough to say half of those things, it was all just...just words. If it helps, I never apologize, so…”

Lance hesitates for a second, trying to take a deep breathe, but it hitches in his throat, which Keith notices. 

“So just because you say you don’t ever apologize, I should forgive you? That’s the shittiest apology ever...I guess you are telling the truth about that at least.”

Keith lets out the tiniest chuckle, or more like a sigh of relief. 

“Yeah that was crappy I guess.” Damn, he had practiced apologizing the whole way over here and he failed, but he wasn’t going to tell that to Lance.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t even know if I would advise it to be honest. I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t happened before with other people. And, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to be friends or anything, after this. I’m just better off alone, away from people...especially people like...well you”

Lance stands up, towering slightly over Keith, his breath brushing Keith’s bangs.

“That apology was almost good, until the end when you fucked it up big time.” He smirks and rustles Keith’s hair with his hand. 

“I’m gonna forgive you, even though you owe me, but only if you tell me you want to still be friends, because otherwise we can just be rivals, which i’m totally fine with by the way, but I can’t forgive my rival.” Keith rolls his eyes, but inside he feels warm, the fuzzy kind (which he kind of hates a little bit), not the sticky kind that’s currently making his skin stick to every article of clothing he has on. Lance is making jokes, which is good, which means he’s okay, which means, for once he didn’t totally fuck up beyond repair. 

Keith ducks his head out from Lance’s hand and still looking at the ground, mumbles, “I guess...I want to.”

Lance puts a hand to his ear, “Sorry, I couldn’t hear that, what did you say?”

“You’re not gonna make me say it again, are you?”

“Yep” Lance pops the p. 

“Ugghh fine. I would like to be fr---frien---friends, there I said it!”

“ Well look at that, the Hulk has returned to the friendly Bruce Banner.” 

“That was a horrible analogy. And I didn’t say I was going to be friendly, I just said we could be friends.”

“Psssh, that was a good one and you know it. Come on, you’re buying me food, friend.”

“What?”

“You owe me, that was part of the deal.”

“Fine.”

Lance starts to walk, his gangly limbs moving a little slower than normally, but Keith grabs his forearm, stopping him in his tracks. Lance turns his head, cocking it to the side confusedly. He really is like a dog, Keith thinks.

“Wait. I just--Are you okay though?”

Lance’s mouth turns into a forced grin, “ Yeah i’m good. I forgive and forget, well minus the forget sometimes, I kind of hold grudges, sorry Keith, but you’re buying me food so it’s all good.”

“No, I mean, not about me, you, are you okay? Hunk and Pidge kind of told me that you--”

“Awe man, they told you? As if I don’t seem like enough of a loser today right?”

“Lance. Stop joking around. I don’t think you’re a loser...well because of that. I--we were worried you. I don’t really know much about anxiety attacks, other than they probably suck. But-”

Lance cringes at the words, not wanting to call it what it was, sucking in his breathe. 

“It’s okay. Thanks for being worried but I was fine, mostly just pissed at you and a little overwhelmed.” He lies. He doesn’t want pity, not from Keith. That’s what Hunk and Pidge were for. They are his rocks, Keith is something else, or he wants him to be something else, whatever that means, he’s not sure. 

Keith believes at least some part of what Lance says, that he seems mostly fine right now. They could talk about it, or not, later if that’s what Lance wants. 

“Okay, well, let’s go get food then if you don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Keith nudges Lance towards the direction he came from a few minutes ago, but Lance is still, neither of them ever moving in sync it seems. 

“Lance?”

Lance turns to face Keith again, connecting their gaze’s, allowing himself to get lost in Keith’s dark eyes which look like galaxies, reflecting the stars above them. He realizes that he doesn’t have an excuse for staring at Keith, but by the way Keith looks back at him, he doesn’t seem to care. They remain this way for a few moments that seem like hours, breathing in sync, the night wind blowing their hair ever so slightly, silence surrounding them. Keith hadn’t realized that Lance was so...pretty. His eyes are a deep ocean blue right now, half hidden by his dark brown eyelashes that kissed his face when he blinks. His facial features, which Keith had thought were objectively handsome, were amplified by the night, the moon highlighting the sharp edges of his jaw line and pointed nose. Two thoughts run through his mind before the moment is ruined by Keith’s phone buzzing wildly. Why did such an attractive face have to be attached to such a big mouth? And, this was going to make it hard to be friends.

Both boys snap out of their gaze at the same time. They are both grateful for Keith’s phone saving them from the embarrassment of an awkward conversation. Keith grabs his phone from his back pocket to see texts from the only two people who would be texting him right now.

10:45pm

Hunk: Keith, any luck? I’m gonna call the police or something if we can’t find him

10:46 pm

Pidge: Please tell me you found him! Hunk’s about to have his own emotional breakdown soon. 

Keith shoves his phone back into his pocket and grabs Lance’s arm, hurrying him out of that damned (magical) garden.

“Oh shit, Hunk and Pidge are still looking for you!”

“Oh, man, Hunk’s gonna kill me!”

“No he won’t, he’s gonna kill me!”

The boys hurry back towards central campus, walking briskly while Keith calls Hunk to tell him that Lance is not kidnapped, or dead, or any other possible horrific outcome he had imagined. Lance walks silently, glancing sideways at Keith who’s trying to calm Hunk down now on the phone. He should still be peeved at Keith, he thinks, but it’s kind of hard to be when Keith gave Lance a “one-of a kind”, albeit horrible, but very Keith-like, and sincere apology. It’s especially difficult to be mad at someone when they look like Keith, and when they speak like Keith, low and quiet, but direct, and when they have deep purple-blue eyes that play you back pictures of space, and when you have a major, totally unrequited crush on them, like with Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Lance deals with anxiety and panic attacks (mostly brought on by overwhelming social situations and emotional distress). Yes, I have personal experience with anxiety and I was writing with that in mind. Yes, it is still hard to put into words what even my own anxiety feels like, so I might have to revise it. At this point in his life he doesn't deal with like general everyday anxiety. I think he did for a while when he was younger and going through some things, but he's in a good place right now except for in certain situations i.e Keith being a major butt.


	10. Short Circuiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has been distant from Lance even after they made up several days ago. Lance doesn't take rejection very well and he gets stuck in a bit of an emotional tsunami of his mind's own doing. Hunk and Pidge decide to gtfo and let Lance deal with his own problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's super late and I don't feel like editing. There are a lot of things I don't think I like about this chapter so I may revise it tomorrow. Night guys
> 
> P.S You guys get some Lance with glasses, which I think would be so cute. 
> 
> UPDATE Sun 8/21: Hey guys, thanks for all the kind comments and stuff. I usually try to update every other day but life is getting a little busy, school starts next week :( But anyways, next chapter is going to be cute and a little Klancey??? so that's why i'm taking a little extra time writing it or else it will suck. I'm currently writing it now so I think it will be done by tomorrow night which is Monday for people in the U.S. Okay spiel done, happy fanfic reading!

It’s Friday now, syllabus week is officially over (commence descent into hell next week when real classes start) and Lance and Keith just got out of their now Shiro-less piloting class, which Keith is oddly grateful for after the week he’s had. He knows it’s a temporary numbness in his heart, he’s just waiting for the hurt of the loss to come back, and hopefully the motivation he needs to call and apologize. It’s been a few days since Keith blew up at Lance and even though Lance says they are “bros” again, which they totally weren’t to begin with, Keith can’t stop beating himself up about it. He wasn’t lying when he told Lance that the incident wasn’t exactly out of character for him, and when he told him he didn’t deserve an apology, and even partially when he told him to leave him alone, for everyone’s own good. But Lance, being the idiotic, but also golden-hearted boy he is, doesn’t think twice about the incident, forgiving Keith and putting it in the past. To be honest, and Keith is horrible at reading people so he is astounded at his own perception skills right now, but, the bro-treatment Lance is giving him is odd. He obviously seems like a good person underneath the all the assness, but he also kind of seems like the person to hold a grudge, which he strictly wasn’t doing to Keith. Like, Lance was totally the kid who made up fake rivalries in his head all through grade school because that one kid made a yo momma joke that went too far in the first grade, and then finally “man’s” up before graduating high school, slamming the kid with the best yo momma jokes of all mankind. Lance didn’t owe Keith anything, and yet, he’s even more in his business than before, which is pretty hard to surpass after walking in on Keith, asleep, in a spiderman towel, and acting like they are real friends. It’s a lot to handle, which Keith would never admit out loud, and his natural instinct is to be aloof and to withdraw himself from the situation before he short circuits. 

Upon walking out of their last class, Lance stretches out his arms above his head and lets out the most obnoxious yawn he can possibly make. 

“Oh, man, I thought that class was going to last forever, Coran is so boring sometimes.” He yawns again, and then a third time before the energy comes back into his body.

Keith just grunts a “mmhhmm”, per usual for most of their conversations today. 

Keith was being distant to Lance, despite Lance’s efforts to ensure him that they were cool. In fact, ever since Tuesday night, when Lance might have accepted that he had a little crush on Keith, he was trying his hardest to get to know the other boy, but Keith kept pushing him away. He didn’t want to keep conversations going any longer than they had to, didn’t banter or argue with Lance when he egged him on, wouldn’t even pass back any of the numerous notes Lance passed him during their last class, most of which were (excellent) doodles of Coran. Lance didn’t even see him open the last couple of notes which were considerably his best creations to date, featuring Coran’s Moustache as the lead protagonist of a mystery noir comic (and obviously a clean-shaven Coran as the evil villain who develops intricate plans to capture and reunite with his long lost moustache). Now Keith won’t even understand the sequel in class next week, shame. 

Lance refuses to accept Keith’s dismissals as anything but him being in a bad mood, which seems common, right? If anything, he should be the one shutting out Keith, not the other way around, the guy even said he wanted to be friends, so what the hell?

“At least we don’t have any homework this weekend...Oohh Hunk still owes me pizza since he ruined the other one with pineapple--hey we should have a gaming night tonight!”

“Gaming night? I don’t really play video games.” Keith mumbles back, trying to seem as disinterested as possible. 

“Aww, it’ll be fun, just think of it as a piloting exercise, only instead of a plane, you’re just controlling cool guns and you have super powers and shiz--Ooh and there’s all these sexy badass characters like this girl D.Va, god she’s hot, oh and uggh, Widowmaker (he says while making an hourglass gesture with his hands). Okay, now we have to play because if I don’t get my fix of Hanzo today, i’m gonna die.” At this point, Lance is practically drooling all over Keith’s shoes as they walk, presumably having sexual fantasies about video game characters which makes Keith feel like he’s just walked into an uncomfortably intimate situation. Lance has no shame though and continues talking in an alien language to Keith, barely taking a breath in between sentences. Keith tries to blank out everything, but then, something Lance said draws his curiosity.

“Lance?” 

Lance stops speaking for a second, taking in a deep breath. He finally got Keith to say something, yayy small achievements! What sort of profound thing could Keith have to say to him?

“Yeah.”

“You could literally be speaking another language to me right now. What the hell even is a Hanzo?” Keith words the sentence to make it seem like he’s genuinely, slightly, interested in whatever game Lance is talking about. But, really, he’s fairly sure the name sounds like a guy’s name and he needs to know if Lance just admitted to finding one attractive because of well, reasons. 

Lance’s eyed go a little wild and he plays with his fingers nervously, trying to find an answer. Just the reaction makes Keith feel a little fuzzy inside. Keith has known he likes boys since he was a young teen. The first time he realized it was when he took a guitar class, very briefly, and the teacher was an older teen boy with long, auburn hair that he kept in a loose bun and wore mostly beachy-hippy clothes. Keith was just trying to learn his chords, but found himself being easily distracted when the instructor would grab his hand gently and place Keith’s fingers on the correct strings. One day during class, it just hit him that he found the guy like, actually beautiful, and he didn’t know if he could sit there a minute longer without embarrassing himself so he ran out of the room, guitar strapped around his shoulders, and down the street without looking back. He was embarrassed about his feelings for a while after that, but eventually learned to accept it. No one really cared what he did anyways, and it’s not like he’s actually had any meaningful relationships to complicate things or bring about judgement. It’s not like Keith would ever want to be in a relationship with Lance or anything, but he did begrudgingly find the obnoxious boy attractive, and that comment sparked a weird fire in Keith to find out if Lance was even a little gay…

“Umm, yeah sorry I guess I nerded out a little too much back there. Wow, you really don’t know anything about popular games?...Oh, and Hanzo is just a character that I think is, you know, well, particularly smexy. ” Lance makes a stupid smirk and wiggles his eyebrows. Keith just lets out an annoyed sigh. Wow, way to be vague as fuck, Lance. 

“Oh, okay, perv…”

“Hey! I’m just appreciating the artwork!” Lance tries to punch Keith in the shoulder, but the paler boy manages to get out of the way, which hurts Lance inside a little. 

“ Sooo...do you wanna come play tonight? Maybe at 7?” 

Keith thinks about it for a second, but then a flood of thoughts creep into his mind, halting him from making a spur of the moment decision which would have been to say sure. He doesn’t want to be stuck with those three again, with the drama of this week still fresh on everyone’s minds. He doesn’t want to stay up late making small talk with Lance, eating out of their treasured fridge, possibly falling asleep again on Lance’s shoulder that was so warm and soft and--no, no it was bony and uncomfortable and horrible and nothing would convince him to do it again. Head cluttered with thoughts that bring about confusion and regret, Keith makes up an excuse. 

“Yeah, uhh, as much as that sounds, well boring as fuck, I actually have even more boring things to do so…”

Lance’s face dims, eyes dropping to the ground, body slumping over enough that Keith notices. 

“Ohh, wait, why would you do anything productive on a Friday? Isn’t that what Sunday at 3 am’s for?”

Keith rummages through his brain again for a more convincing answer to put Lance to rest. 

“Well, actually, it’s not school work, really, just paperwork i haven’t filled out yet for this semester and stuff...I gotta finish it.”

If Lance’s shoulders and posture could slump anymore, they do. Keith averts his gaze, shielding his eyes as if the disappointment in Lance could somehow radiate off onto him. It does. 

“Oh, okay. Well you’re gonna miss out on hours of babes and fun.” Lance picks back up and exchanges the gloomy look for his usual shit-eating grin and hands-on-hip pose. 

“Yeah, sorry...I guess, next time... I’ll see you later, I gotta go pick up something.”

Keith quickly separates himself from Lance and starts in another direction, hoping he won’t ask anymore questions. Behind him, Lance just stands in his place, sad eyes watching Keith obviously run off to some fake destination that was more favorable than hanging out with him and his “nerd” friends. What was that guy’s deal? It’s starting to piss Lance off a little more. And what’s frustrating is that Lance’s mind is playing as many tricks on him as Keith’s, despite either of them knowing the mutual brain torment going on. One minute, Lance is really just annoyed that that mullet jerk is blowing him off when he’s put a lot of effort into being nice, which is a real challenge with Keith. The other part of him, the part that’s confusing him, is hurt by Keith’s dismissal of him. Practically his whole life Lance has been accustomed to either being strongly embraced, positively or negatively, by people, or dismissed as an annoyance, like a bug you might swat at carelessly for hours as it flies, trapped inside your room, not really caring if it dies or lives, just wanting it out of the way. The second option always hurt Lance, who ultimately wanted to be noticed in some way by everyone he meets. With Keith, it particularly hurt, especially after he had opened up a little the other night. Lance’s body naturally rejects sadness, if it can, and replaces it with another viable emotion. This time, it’s anger, and he is fine with that. He turns around, wanting mullet out of his line of view, and stomps off to his dorm room to rage in piece in and quiet. 

When he opens the door, after frustratingly sliding the key in five or six times and failing to open it, he trudges in and immediately kicks his shoes off and tosses his backpack on the ground. Hunk has his head in the fridge looking for a snack.

“Hey buddy, what’s up?”

“Bad day. Don’t talk.”

Hunk peeks out of the fridge and then closes it after his eyes meet with Lance’s s frigid demeanor. 

“Aww come on Lance, it can’t be that bad. Want to talk about it?”

“No!”

“Well you want to eat you feelings? There’s nothing good here.”

“Naa uhh”

“ We could go get burritos, your faaavorite.” Hunk sneaks a playful wink at Lance, but it backfires when Lance shoots back an even more chilling scowl.

“Alright I won’t bother you but if you want to talk i’m here. And hopefully you want to talk soon because angry Lance just doesn’t suit you. I thought that was Keith’s thing haa.”

Lance hisses at the sound of Keith’s name and plops himself face down onto his bed, hoping clothes will drown out the sound of anymore of Hunk’s “encouraging” words. 

Hunk makes a few more attempts to cheer up Lance which all result in increasingly terrifying glares and things mumbled in a mixture of English and Spanish. Eventually, around 7 ish, Hunk and Pidge decide to go out to a party held at one of their engineering friend’s dorms, mostly just to escape the ice-breathing Lance dragon. Lance didn’t mean to be so sour towards his friends, it’s not like they did anything, in fact they had been uber caring to him all week (which Lance also found a smidgen revolting but still cute of them). They had tried to make up for his mom’s absence in recovering from his anxiety attack, and it made him feel loved, but today he is trapped in his own bad mood, and seemingly nothing can help but a good night’s sleep. 

Before closing the door Hunk tells Lance that they're probably going to stay at the friend's house over night so he should take care of himself and not trash the dorm. Lance mumbled back the saddest mhmm Hunk ever heard so the worried roommate just slipped some money on the desk for Lance to get some food or something and he quietly exited the room.

By 8 pm, Lance gets up off of his bed just long enough to change into sweatpants and a hoodie, change out his contacts (which were stinging from all the glaring today) for his light blue ray ban glasses (which only Hunk was allowed to see him in), grab the remote and plop back on the bed. He turns on a Harry Potter movie, which he’s seen a hundred times, and half-watches it as his eyes start to feel heavy and sleep starts to drift over him like a soft blanket, comforting him from the vexing games his mind has been playing all evening. He’s about to doze off completely when a soft knocking taps at his door. Lance opens his eyes partly, considering if he was dreaming it or not, and then another knock confirms its certainty. The dozing boy slumps one leg over the bed, followed by the other, and slowly by the rest of his body and he clomps over to the door.

“I swear Hunk, if you forgot your key again!” Lance says groggily but with force.

He starts to pull the door and adds in, “ I thought you said you guys were going to a party. What kind of party ends at 8-”

Standing outside of the door is Keith, wide eyed and mousy and looking like he might run away at any second. 

“Keith? I thought you had stuff to do?”

Keith’s eyes dart between Lance, catching at his rustled bed head and surprisingly fitting glasses, and past the door frame, hopefully cuing Lance to let him in so they don’t have to have this awkward conversation in the hallway. Lance catches on and gestures for Keith to come in before closing the door and sitting back on his bed. 

Keith takes a seat on the end of Hunk’s bed.

“I--I finished...what I had to do, so I thought I’d come here after.” He fidgets nervously with Hunk’s comforter. 

“Sure…” Lance offers. His voice is lower and raspier than usual, his body either still trying to wake up or pleading to go back to sleep. Keith notices this too, wondering if it was like that when he had opened the door, or if he was just now noticing because they are in a dark, quiet dorm alone, and Lance looks…

“Anyways, it’s too late for anything fun. Hunk and Pidge left to go to a party, and i’m--

He gestures to the tv, "STOP, STOP, STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE SOMEONE'S EYE OUT. BESIDES, YOU'RE SAYING IT WRONG. IT'S LEVIOSA, NOT LEVIOSAR!"

Keith chuckles a little, “Wow, what a Friday night you are having. Weren’t you making fun of me for working?”

Lance doesn’t look amused, or angry, or really anything. His face looks indifferent, apathetic even, which is scarier. 

“Well, this is my Friday night when people make up stuff right in front of me and bail instead of just saying the truth flat out and telling me they don’t like me.” Lance’s voice is now blaring and awake, and insisting that Keith make something useful of his trip over to his dorm. 

Keith takes in a gulp of air, searching for words. He came here because he felt bad for bailing, which made him feel even worse because he can’t handle this new feeling of being guilty all the time, over a boy nonetheless. Lance was going to be the death of him that’s for sure, emotionally and probably in reality if they end up piloting a ship together. 

“I’m sorry Lance. You probably don’t believe that, I get it. But, I came here to apologize because-well because I can’t handle feeling bad about ditching and lying to you when I already feel bad about the other night. That sounds selfish too, so just sorry, about a bunch of stuff. I don’t even know. I thought I was doing the right thing by staying away, because that’s how I usually handle things, people, when I don’t want to hurt them anymore but, I think I fucked up again, judging by your current state. Sorry” 

Lance sits silently for a few moments before opening his mouth to grin. 

“Wow, not only do you suck as apologies, you also ramble when you’re nervous. Wouldn’t a guessed it.”

Keith’s mouth drops open, his brain unable to register the unsympathetic reply.

Lance continues, filling in the empty space of Keith’s lost words.

“ Earth to Keith, are you broken?”  
He waves his hand in front of Keith, who blinks a couple times then snatches Lance’s hand in his own, gripping it just a little too tightly.

“That was rude. I just apologized and you’re psychoanalyzing me?”

“Well, I deserve to be a little rude after your shit i’ve been putting up with. Sheesh Keith, not to be rude but can’t you just be like, I don’t know, semi normal for 24 hours?”

“That was rude also. Offense taken.”

“Good, offense intended. Look...I already told you everything was cool so I don’t know why you’re blowing me off. I won’t admit I ever told you this but I am aware that my personality is a little...abrasive sometimes. You either love it or hate it, I get it. But at least have the guts to tell me straight up, and honestly, without having a rage fest at me for no reason, that you can’t stand me. I can live with that, I guess, if you mean it. I didn’t really give you a choice to be friends or not, huh?”

Keith sits, silence lingering between the two boys for an uncomfortable amount of time after Lance finishes speaking. Eventually, Lance can’t handle cringing anymore so interjects, again, seeing Keith’s hardwiring clearly malfunctioning from all this talk of emotions.

“Okay, well if that’s it, I think i’ve embarrassed myself enough for one night, and I’m sure I missed my favorite part of the movie, so I guess you can go.” Lance stands up and starts walking toward to open the door like the gentlemen he is, pshhh. 

They catch each other’s gazes, Keith from his spot on the bed, Lance, looking back with one hand on the door. 

“Wait, um, Lance? Is it okay if I hang out for a bit?”

Lance tilts his head once again, Keith’s question riddling his head.

“Really?...Yeah I guess, if you want.”

Keith lets his mouth form a faint smile, which Lance sees and counteracts with a more obvious grin.

“ I knew you couldn’t hate me! Haa, no one can resist my charms!”

“Shut up! Maybe I just feel bad for you because you look pathetic right now.”

“Sure Jan…”

“What?”

“So much to learn, so little time Keithy poo.”

“Don’t call me that, or else!” 

“Hey! Hey! You wouldn’t hurt a boy with mental problems, that’s fucked up! That’s why you were afraid of me right? Huh, Huh? Keithy poo can’t handle having fucked up friends?”

“Lance. Just shut up please.” In Keith fashion, his words bite, but his apologetic face, reserved only for Lance it seems, tells Lance everything he needs to hear. 

Lance gets up, sneaks two sodas from Hunk’s fridge, tosses one to Keith, and pops his open. 

“So, do you wanna finish watching HP? Or I can restart it I guess, if you haven’t seen it before, considering you haven’t seen anything important.”

“I’ve seen Harry Potter stupid. And no, I don’t want to watch it. I came here for video games with badass german robots and...tattooed shirtless archers.” He sends a mischievous glance at Lance who turns several shades of red.

“Hey! At least I got you to look the game up! It’s not my fault they make everyone so gorgeous.”

“Hmmm” Keith snickers, finding utter enjoyment in Lance’s flustered appearance.

Lance ignores him and turns on the playstation. If Keith didn’t already drown out his sorrows with his once again, horrifying, but kinda adorable apology, slaughtering him at Overwatch will. They settle in on the bean bags, Keith will have to get a red one if this gaming continues, and let the night become lost in mindless chatter, endless shit talking by Lance, and each oblivious boy stealing yearning looks at the other’s face, lit in the glow of the tv screen, in the safety of the dark room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of weird references in this chapter, some I made up so just excuse my weirdness. The game Lance is talking about is Overwatch which is currently consuming my life right now outside of Klance. Hanzo is this archer guy that a lot of people think is hot so Lance basically kind of announced his sexuality by being a pervy video game nerd haa.


	11. Play of the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance try to hang out like real "bros". Lance tries to play his favorite game with Keith which ends up with mixed results?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's late, so I will edit tomorrow because I didn't even feel like spell checking or anything. Sorry not sorry? I'm still not sure if I like how this chapter turned out but i'll keep it for now.
> 
> UPDATE 08/28/16 Hey guys, just wanted to give a little update that i AM working on the next chapter, it's just been a busy week and I start my last first of college tomorrow (yikes!!!!). I will either have it finished tonight, or tomorrow hopefully. But, I also wanted to thank everyone who has read so far, it's almost at a thousand hits!!!

Play of the game : EMOMULLET

“Aww Fuck you Keith, stop getting play of the game!” Lance yells way over the noise level limit that students are supposed to be using at this late hour in the dorms. He chucks the controller in front of him in frustration. Keith is way too good at this game for his first time playing any shooter game, ever!

“ What? It’s not my fault i’m already better at this than you” Keith chuckles and throws the controller in front of him too, cracking his knuckles which feel as stiff as an old man’s crooked, arthritic hands, after having played video games for hours straight. 

"Why'd you go and play as Hanzo then? Huh? You knew he was my weakness, low blow Keith."

"Payback for naming me Emomullet again?"

They’re interrupted by a violent knocking on the door and the familiar voice of their RA screaming on the other side. “HEY QUIET DOWN IN THERE! IT’S PAST CURFEW!”

Lance doesn’t skip a beat of silence, “HEY, FUCK YOU TODD!”

Keith can’t help but burst into laughter and when he looks over at Lance, the delinquent who is gesturing for Keith to chime into the insults. 

“Hell no, i’m not pissing off the RA. That’s why he hates you and makes you help clean the communal bathrooms. Hunk told me...”

“Come on do it Keith, just tell him like it is. He’s voice shaming me, it’s not my fault my poetic voice travels easily.”

“You’re a dumbass.”

Lance rolls his eyes but then gets a better idea and turns his head, gives Keith a mocking glare and mouths the word “ What are you… a pussy” barely audibly.

That sends Keith over the edge and he abandons any self preservation he has, cups his hands around his mouth and yells,

“YEAH FUCK OFF TODD!.....YOUR FACE IS...IS STUPID”

Keith was pretty sure by now Todd had retreated back to his room but then he hears another muffled reprimanding from behind the door.

“HEY! WHO WAS THAT? LANCE? HUNK? IS IT THAT NEW KID, KEVIN OR SOMETHING? YOU’RE ALL ON ON THE LIST AGAIN THIS YEAR.”

Lance is rolling off his bean bag in a fit of laughter, holding his stomach and gasping for breaths between each bellowing chuckle. 

“Oh my god, fuckin todd...and what was that insult by the way? But you know what, he was probably offended anyways!” He stops laughing for a moment to wipe the tears welling up in his eyes and then proceeds to mimic Todd, who Keith has never actually seen, but can already clearly picture just by Lance’s endless supply of spot on imitations of the guy. 

“Oh, phew, that was good. Thanks Keith. You really know how to roast em’. Totally Rekt.”

“Your welcome?”

They sit in silence for a few moments, catching their breaths and letting their stomachs recover from the pain that is laughing too hard. Seriously, why can’t laughing give you abs? The loading screen of the game plays back over and over again, flashing soft hues of color over Keith’s pale face (which Lance definitely notices) and making Lance’s tan skin even richer(dually noted) but somehow the quiet is never awkward or uneasy. The clock on the cable box says it’s 11:48 pm but Lance and Keith lost touch with time and reality the second Keith asked to stay. Video games and endless banter, friendly-ish insults and laughs, Lance’s vibrant voice and Keith’s comfortable silences, fill up the space, transforming it into their own alternate universe away from any worries. 

Lance hefts himself up off of the beanbag and walks over to his bed before crouching down, plunging his body under the draping duvet cover, and rummaging the contents of the space. He’s down there long enough that Keith has to consciously tell himself not to stare at Lance’s ass which is poked out from behind the covers and currently the most prominent subject in his field of vision. 

“Uh, Lance what are you doing?”

“Just….uh...owwwfuck...just looking for something real quick.” He winces underneath the sound of his head smacking the underside of the wooden bed frame. 

“I swear to god if you pull out a quija board or some shit, i’m outta here.”

Lance scooches himself out from under the bed and all Keith sees is gangly legs and a quite frankly, flat, but still distracting, Lance ass. In his hands are a multitude of bags of different snacks, mostly candy, and a board game of some kind. 

“Wow, candy, and a game, what are we, five?”

“I have to keep this under here or else Hunk will find it.”

Lance isn’t slightly phased by Keith’s comment and proceeds to go to the fridge and pull out two beers which he apparently isn’t as concerned about hiding as the tequila that had required covert secret agent status level security. 

“Beer, see? It cancels the others things out.” Lance hands Keith a beer and then rips into a bag of starbursts, shelling off the wrappers at the speed of light and inhaling the two chewy candies at once. There’s a lot of lip smacking and other, verging on lewd, noises erupting from Lance’s mouth. 

“Yes, two pinks.” He dabs like an idiot. 

“Do you need a minute to yourself? ” Keith says, glaring at Lance who’s enjoying the candy a little too much.

Lance rolls his eyes and chucks a pack of starburst at Keith’s face but the paler boy dodges with his cat like reflexes, catching the pack centimeters away from his forehead. 

“Starbursts are a gift from god, and he just gifted me with two pinks, that must mean he really loves me.”

Keith makes a fake sick face. “ Or that he hopes you get a cavity. And pinks are the worst, not that I’ve eaten this trash since fifth grade.”

Lance puts his hand to his mouth, pretending to hold back from being sick. 

“Oh no, oh no, don’t tell me your favorite flavor is--

“Yellow”

“NOOOOO! The betrayal, the pain, it’s too much to handle.”

Lance grabs his chest as if the pain is too much and reenacts a tragic death scene. Death by appalling flavor choices. Or, death by Keith failing at life, again. 

Keith sits on the floor, tucking his feet underneath his legs, rolling his eyes eternally at Lance. He had to pick the literal biggest idiot in the galaxy to be his first real friend besides Shiro, and to top it off, now they’re eating candy and playing board games like it’s a nine year old girl’s birthday slumber party.

Eventually, without Keith even noticing, Lance has made a miraculous recovery and is sliding the board game in front of Keith.

“This is why we are playing this game. How can I be a good friend/rival with someone if I don’t even know that their favorite flavor of starburst is...yellow.” He cringes again like the drama queen he is.

Keith looks over at the board game in front of him, takes a sip of of beer, he hates beer, and sighs.

“Twenty Questions? How do you play?”

“Well, the game is about trying to guess a certain thing given clues, but we’re playing with a twist. Every wrong guess mean the other person gets to ask anything to the other.”

Keith visibly winces, takes another sip of beer, gagging on it, and whines. 

“Uggh, That’s not really, I’m not into--can’t we just play the game by the rules?”

It’s not even like Keith is being discreet about his dislike for Lance’s new rules or the game in general. But Lance already knew he would hate it, and he doesn’t really care. He’s sick of playing so many guessing games with Keith, trying to figure out what will piss him off, what’s too sensitive to bring up, what makes him laugh, what makes him tick in that staccato, unstable count, that is Keith. Keith said he owed Lance, and Lance is going to use that debt to its fullest. Find out how to annoy Keith, find out how to not annoy Keith, try to figure him out, try to figure this crush thing out. Unbeknownst to Keith Lance’s favorite game has always been twenty questions, and he pretty much puts everyone in his life through it at one time or another. Lance has never known life without trying to understand people the minute he meets them, which sometimes get him into trouble depending on the person. Because of that, he is mostly an open book to the world, save for a few very sensitive subjects, and he’s also a nosy little shit as his sister would say, so the the best to way to win his heart is by putting up with this “pledging ritual” of sorts. He’s been bugging people with this invasive habit since before he could speak full sentences, asking anyone he can questions about their life, wanting to feel like a part of their story. He’d just start asking questions without thinking to anyone, the mail-man, the grocery bagger, his mother’s friends and coworkers, anybody who would tolerate his incessant inquiries. Lance wanted to know them. Maybe that’s why Lance needed to play twenty questions with Keith, because he needs to know him, needs to ask him the things that he couldn’t figure out just by casual conversations and bickering and yelling. But Keith is gonna reject the game immediately if he just straight up asks, so covering with a board game of the same name, sound pretty convincing right?

When he was 7 years old, a somber Lance came home crying off the bus, shoving his tear stained face into his mother’s chest, mumbling into the soft fabric of her shirt things she couldn’t understand.

She rubbed his head and said, “Lance my darling, what’s wrong, did something happen at school?”

Once he finally stopped crying he lifted his head up and looked into her dark brown eyes and replied, “ Mama, why don’t people want me to be their friend?”

Holding back her own tears for Lance’s sake, his Mama cupped her hands around his face.

“Mi hijo, why would you ever think that? Of course people want to be your friend. You are the kindest, funniest, most caring boy I know.”

“ Bu-But, the kids, on the bus, they said I was an-annoying because I was in their beez-wax. All I wanted to do was get to know them. I just-I ju-” He broke into tears again before he could finish explaining. 

“Oh Lance, i’m sorry those other kids said those things. You are nothing like that. I don’t know what this bee’s wax you are talking about, but I do know you, and I know you always treat people with kindness in your heart.” She stopped for a few moments, running fingers through Lance’s soft auburn hair before speaking again.

“ Honey, did this happen because you were asking a lot of questions?”

Lance picked his head up again and nodded solemnly. 

“ There’s a new kid on our bus, Charlie, and I was asking him about his old school and stuff, and then these other boys came up and started picking on me and telling me to shut up and stuff.”

“Oh baby, i’m sorry. They don’t know how special you are, how you just want to understand people. And I, I don’t want you to ever stop that because it is what makes you unique, and it is part of what makes you such a good person...But, Lance, sometimes i’m afraid you, you ask a lot out of people. Sometimes people are uncomfortable with telling others about themselves and even though you have the best intentions, they don’t see that. Those kids were being bullies, that’s for sure, and i’m definitely telling that kid, what’s his name, Vincent, I bet one of them was that delinquent called Vincent right? I’m calling out his mama next time I see her, but I also need you to work with me, okay?”

“Okay, I guess, but how do I do that?”

She thinks for a minute before answering.

“How about we make up a little game.”

Lance’s eyes light up. “A game?!”

“ Yep. How about, when you want to get to know someone, you ask them to play a game. Twenty Questions. If they say okay, then you can ask them twenty questions, and that’s it mi hijo. No more until next time you play. If they say no though, you don’t invade their personal bubble. You be friendly with them until they may or may not be ready to play.”

“Personal bubble?”

“Yep. That’s, well, that’s..Everyone has one. It’s your own space that no one has access to except you. For a lot of people, that means things they don’t want to tell others, things they don’t want to be asked about. So can we make a deal? No more asking without permission. No more giving those bullies a chance to pick on my little baby for no reason?”

Lance smiled his signature smile, the one that could light up a room, heck an entire planet and nodded enthusiastically, excited about his new game. “Si Mama, Si!”

 

When Lance got older, he eventually realized his mama didn’t make up the game twenty questions, obviously. Even funnier, she gave him a game people usually only play on dates as a coping mechanism for his talkativity and nosiness. Nonetheless, Lance still likes to play it regardless of who it is with.

Rules of the game are: If you can make the whole way through the game without punching Lance in the face or walking out, you’ve reached platinum level friendship possibilities, or you’re impressively good at evading answering questions, which may be a problem with Keith. Hunk is obviously the top scorer, followed by Pidge who made it to 19 because Lance made a snide comment last second and almost got himself pepper sprayed, so he elected to just skip question 20. He guestimates Keith would make it to 10 max before the game is over. 

“Come on Keith, you said you owed me, this is your payment. Please, Please, Please?”

“Fine. Why do you even wanna know stuff about me? It’s not like we’re gonna have anything in common, I can promise you that.”

“Yes!” Lance starts pulling the game apart, unfolding the board and distributing the pieces between the two boys.

“You never know, we might both have the same secret fetish or something.”

“Gross. That’s your best guess for something we might have in common? Not like i’d tell you anything like that if I had one…” Keith tries to act disgusted, which he is, but his face also feels warm and he’s pretty sure his near translucent skin is bright red, and this way such a horrible idea. 

“Okay, I get to go first because this is my room and i’m younger and cuter.”

“ You don’t even know my birthday, idiot.”

“Okay, well, that’s my first question if you get this guess wrong, okay? 

Keith glares at Lance but nods in reluctant agreement. He can probably blame the stained shade of red on his cheeks for the rest of the night on the beer, right? 

 

“Hey you didn’t say anything about me bein’ cuter?” 

Keith’s face turns an alarming shade of red, which he’s pretty sure is just going to be his natural shade after tonight and quickly fires back, “ Lance. I’m going to say this once. Shut the fuck up.”

Lance giggles and takes a card from the pile which reads Lion. Keith starts asking questions:

:“Is it living?” “Yes”

:“Is it a mammal?” “Yeah”

:“Is it bigger than a cat?” “Depends”

“You can’t say depends, it’s yes or no!”

“Well, the question was too vague, next question”

: “Is it bigger than a house cat?” “ yes”

: “It’s a tiger”

“Nope, Lion.”

“Damn”

“You didn’t even ask like five questions. If you had just asked about the fur, you wouldn’t have to tell me your birthday.”  
Keith is already annoyed, one question in. A birthday is just a day, nothing special. But for him, his birthday is one of the small pieces of information he knows is true about himself, one of the infamous facts, and he doesn’t like giving that away to anyone. But, he owes Lance so…

“It’s February 14th.”

“What? You’re a Valentine’s baby?!! Oh my god. That’s, well, that either sucks or rocks, I guess, depending on your relationship status huh?”

“I don’t really care to be honest. Valentine’s Day is just a fake holiday anyways.”

“Whaaa? Valentine’s Day is beautiful, the chocolate, the hearts, the love in the air.” He breathes in deeply and puts his hands to his face like a dork, which gives Keith a small fluttering in his stomach that disgusts him. He has lost hope in deciphering his own emotions at this point in the week. It might be better just to become Vulcan for real, Lance had suggested he was one anyways several times over the last week, and forego the whole emotion thing completely. 

“Okay it’s my turn.” Keith quickly diverts the conversation and picks up a card that says Kiss.” Shit, shit shit. Is it too late to just get up and walk out? Keith just sits, staring at the card, paralyzed with fear. 

“Umm...okay? I’ll start I guess.” Lance can see that Keith is freaking out over what the card says so he starts firing questions.

: “Is it a place?”

: “No”

: “Is it living?”

: “No”

: “Uggh, is it bigger than a bread box?”

: “....N/A”

: “Keith! I thought we said only yes or no!”

: “Well, it doesn’t apply to that question, dumbass!”

: “How am I supposed to know? That’s the whole point Keee-yyy--thhhh” Lance refrains from getting up in Keith’s face, trying his best to at least get half way through the game, so he settles for sticking his tongue out at Keith and continues…

“This is question 18, just so you know” Keith is holding back yawns, trying to stay attentive to this game that is obviously so important to Lance, but like, seriously they haven’t even gotten through two rounds and Lance is taking forever! At this rate, Keith’s birthday is all Lance is ever gonna know about him. 

“I’m aware of that, thanks.”

“Okay, so it doesn’t have a size, I guess, and I can’t eat it, and hmmm, okay, is it something I could give to someone?”

That gets Keith’s attention. His eyes go a little bug eyed and he quickly tucks his head into his chest pretending to think. 

“...yeahiguess”

“What?”

“Yes! I said yes okay? Kinda.”

“ Gheesh Keith, is it frustration because you’re certainly giving me a lot of that? Can you give me a hint?”

“No, that’s cheating.” 

“Oh come one, just a little one, please?”

“Uhh, like what?”

“I don’t know, you could act it out or something like charades.”

“No. Not happening.”

“ Really? Ooh, is it something embarrassing? Is it something sexy?” Lance wiggles his eyebrows at Keith earning him a piercing glare, the one he’s become accustomed to in this short week of knowing the guy. 

“ Just guess something and get it wrong so we can end this.”

Lance crosses his arms, gives Keith a menacing smirk and stares at him hoping a little defiance might crack Keith, play at his own game. 

“You can sit there all night long, but i’m not telling you what the card says.”

Okay, if the silent treatment doesn’t work, puppy dog eyes surely will. Lance pouts his lower lip and hits Keith with his big blues.

Unfortunately, for Keith, he melts under Lance’s gaze, feeling the effects of the deep blue irises like a siren’s song, pulling him forward. Dammit, that kid could rob a bank with those eyes, just go in there and hypnotize everyone into giving him what he wants. The events of the night, of the week, of everything finally dissolve Keith’s reserves, his denial of his emotions and the solid wall that he keeps up, making everything crumble at his feet. If Lance is robbing a bank, those blue eyes were the keys and Keith was the goddamn safe. (Keith would think that was totally cheesy)

Without even knowing it Keith is swiftly moving towards Lance, his body betraying his own will, becoming an automaton with glowing eyes locked onto its target. His legs have uncurled themselves and are springing up, chest moving forward so fast he almost trips. His quick reflexes allow him to catch himself, hands conveniently landing at either side of Lance’s legs, fingernails burying into the shag rug on the floor. He’s so close to Lance he can feel his breath on his face, smell the combination of cologne and sweetness that he’s come to recognize as entirely Lance. The room is spinning but Lance’s blue eyes are still, motionless bodies of water projecting calm, swelling waves into the dark chasms of Keith’s, blue consuming his vision, and then his tan skin sprinkled with soft freckles, and his cute pointed nose, and then his lips. 

 

In mere seconds that felt like lingering moments to Keith, his hands are clenching the soft fabric of Lance’s sweatshirt, and his lips, his lips are crashing into the other boy’s. He feels warmth and then a burning fire spreading from where their lips make contact, into his veins and throughout his entire body, consuming him. Keith thinks he might spontaneously combust, the electric sensation of kissing Lance, and the flood of blurry emotions that are crashing through his mind making him feel like he’s alive and like his death is imminent simultaneously. But the moment is over before it began. Keith separates his lips from Lance’s and jerks back, wild eyes locking on to even wilder eyes. He can’t read Lance’s face, can’t register anything but the world actually spinning around him as he stumbles backwards, back crashing into the side of the bed. The kiss wasn’t long enough to know if Lance would have kissed back, and definitely too long and heated to play off as anything other than what it was. What was he supposed to say, oh sorry I tripped? Oh sorry, I was just giving you that hint you wanted? The wires are short circuiting again, walls built back up, meticulously coded programs re-instancing again in Keith, telling him to follow protocol, to do what he always does when situations take a wrong turn, run. 

Keith uses the side of the bed as leverage and propels himself up and towards the door, leaving everything, his phone, his shoes, it doesn’t matter, he just needs to escape. He jumps over Lance, thanks someone he doesn’t trip, and is out of the door before anything could be said between the two boys, before any more eye contact, before he actually self implodes. Keith’s fingers fumble in his back pockets looking for his dorm key so he can lock himself in his room for as long as necessary for either him or Lance to fill out the paperwork to drop out of school. Maybe Keith will just run away, curl up in a dark hole and die or grow into an old grumpy man living in a deserted shack or something. Shit. The key is in his jacket, in Lance’s dorm. Worry builds up in his eyes and his head darts back and forth looking for somewhere to hide like a rabbit searching for refuge from a fox. He hears a door open and starts to run towards the stairs without looking back, he knows who it is. 

Once again long legs triumph over speed and Lance’s hand clutches Keith’s wrist, shoving him backwards. His flushed face turns around in the taller boy’s direction, eyes meeting again but this time neither of their gazes are soft. This would be a great time to be able to read people’s faces, but Keith finds himself short sided. 

Lance takes a deep breath and grabs Keith tighter, making sure to hold him in place for long enough to get a word out.

“Just, hold on for a second will ya…” He pauses, taking another deep breath.

“What the fuck was that? You, you can’t just-that and then-this!”

Lance watches as Keith physically falls into himself, trying to recede into thin air, shoulders slumping, head hanging down, hand brushing the back of his neck, a habit Lance knows means he’s nervous, but he didn’t really need to know that to decipher Keith’s emotions this time. 

“I-uh...I was..that’s what the card was…”

“What?”

“The game, the card said kiss.” Keith isn’t sure how his mouth is sputtering out coherent words over his inner voice which is screaming expletives and ‘kill me now’ over and over again. 

“That, are you serious? Are you fucking with me right now?”

Keith stays silent for a few moments, finding it more difficult to just spout out bullshit right now. 

“ I don’t know Lance...That’s what it said, you were-you just were annoying me so I did it on an impulse to shut you up and make you stop looking at me like that. God. Fuck. I’m sorry. I just-”

“No. You don’t get off that easy. I don’t want you to say sorry unless, unless you can look me in the eye and tell me that you only did that because of the game.” Lance looks sturn now, seemingly towering over Keith, making his skin burn again. 

They stand there like that for a while, Keith’s arm in Lance’s grip, Lance desperately waiting for an answer, trying to decide how to respond if in fact Keith ever learns to speak again. 

Finally Keith speaks, “ I-well...I guess, no, not entirely.”

Lance’s legs feel like they are about to collapse under him although he maintains a sense of fake composure. 

“Oh...I didn’t...I didn’t even know you-”

“Lance, please just stop talking, you’re making it worse. Please just let me go so I can pretend this never happened. I’m sorry I kissed you, i’m sorry I came over. It was all a mistake.”

Keith didn’t even notice Lance had been holding his stuff in his other hand, but now he’s shoving it into his chest, probably trying to get anything of Keith’s out of his sight. So much for being friends. Keith grabs the stuff and almost immediately retrieves his key, grasping onto it, sliding it through the door, and entering his room all while Lance just stands there, frozen in place, probably with a look of disgust on his face. 

Fifteen minutes elapsed, Keith’s back is slumped against the inside of his door, legs curled up into his chest, his body trying to provide comfort where it can. He cries, he curses, he mumbles insults at himself, he’s not sure, everything is fuzzy. It was supposed to be a fun, friendly night with Lance, a “bonding session” after Keith’s last fuck up, but here he is, sitting on the floor of his still undecorated dorm, crying because he fucked up in an even bigger way by kissing Lance. A punch in the face would have been a lot easier to deal with. He sniffles into his sleeve and hoists himself up from the door before noticing a note sitting on the ground next to where he just was. He picks it up and unfold it to see messy blue handwriting in a message that says “open the door dummy, i’m not mad, I just want to talk.” He looks at the note confused. It’s obviously from Lance but so unexpected. He could of just knocked on the door, but then again Keith wouldn’t have answered it. He’s not sure what to do, but somehow he finds himself wiping off his face and his hand opening up the door. He’s not even sure how long it’s been. 

The door opens and the hallway is empty, faint yellow lights dimming the stale gray space. Keith looks around briefly and when he sees no one he finds himself disappointed. Maybe Lance had second thoughts. Suddenly, a wild Lance appears out of the corner of his eye, grabbing his shoulder. His face is solemn but relaxed. 

“ Keith. You got my note.”

“Obviously...So what did you want to say?”

“Um, well. I don’t know actually, I didn’t think I’d get this far to be honest.”

“I’m going back in my room.”  
“No wait.”

Lance takes Keith’s hand in his, lightly cupping it, too afraid to intertwine their fingers together in fear the Keith might run away at the contact. 

“I just...umm. Well, do you wanna go somewhere tomorrow?”

“What?”

“Ughh, are you gonna make me say it again? Do you wanna, like go out, with me, to get food or something?”

“ You wanna get food withe me? Why--Oh, are you, are you asking me out?”

“God, yes Keith, way to make it more embarrassing. Yes, i’m trying to ask you out. If you want?”

“Wait, so you like me?”

Lance’s face freezes up. He totally wasn’t prepared for this tonight. He wasn’t prepared for asking Keith out on a date, like ever. 

“I mean, I...I still don’t know much about you, and you kind of piss me off a lot, and you seem like you have a death wish for either me, or you, or both of us, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I think you’re face is kinda, pretty, and I mean, I didn’t hate that kiss, so…”

“Alright.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. I mean I kissed you, so is it really all that shocking?”

“Anything coming from you is shocking, Keith.”

Keith chuckles, the knots in his stomach finally untying a little bit, enough for him speak without feeling like he’s about to throw up. 

Lance’s face lights up a little as if he’s just making the connection that the conversation is going in his favor. 

“ So, you actually like me though? This isn’t a pity date right? I didn’t even know you were into guys-”

“Goodnight Lance.” Keith gently removes his hand from Lance’s, which he had forgotten was even a thing that happened, and closes the door, peeking out and barely smiling at the beaming boy before closing it entirely. He hears Lance’s feet shuffling down the hallway and the familiar bellowing voice saying.

“Night Keithy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about to get a little gayer soon :)


	12. Have Some Composure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is about to go on a date with Keith. He's nervous and he can't stop changing outfits.

“You What?!”

“Relax Hunk, it’s not a big deal, we’re just getting food and stuff, nothing big.” Lance tries to calm Hunk down with his most calming voice that he’s capable of making after spilling the beans that he kind of, more or less, asked Keith out. 

“Not a big deal! You practically hated the guy last night, you wouldn’t even get a burrito with me because he pissed you off so bad!” Hunk heavily fell backwards on the bed and covered his face with his hands, an expression that generally meant he had had his share of Lance bullshit for the day, and it’s only lunchtime. 

Lance shrugs and puts his hands up in defense. To be honest, he doesn’t really have a better explanation for the circumstances, he’s not entirely sure how, or why, or if the whole date thing is really happening.

“I don’t know Hunk, it just…happened. It was an impulse, I didn’t know if I wanted to slap the guy or ask his hot face out, and well....I picked the second one.” 

“Ughh, Lance, please, if this “thing” works out, I don’t want to hear anything about Keith’s hot face, or voluptuous ass, or whatever the fuck else you have to say about him.” Lance chuckled at that, there’s his Hunk that he knows, utterly embarrassed at his best friend’s antics, but in the end without an ounce of shame or judgement towards Lance. 

“I can’t make any promises, but i’ll try.” Lance wiggles his eyebrows and walks over to Hunk’s bed and sits down.

“So just for clarity, let me get this straight.” Hunk sits up and looks at Lance, a somewhat serious look cast on his face like that of a concerning mother. 

“You were in here pouting, and then Keith showed up and somehow you guys ended up kissing, but then he ran away and so you asked him out?” 

“I guess, kind of abbreviated but, to be honest the night is pretty fuzzy to me now. I have no idea what possessed me to get the guts to ask him out though, maybe it’s cuz his lips are so soft-”

“Lance, you promised! Ugh, I would normally say this is weird and stupid of you to date someone who gave you an anxiety attack like the first week you met but all of your other attempts at dating have ended heinously, so maybe Keith will be a miracle. Plus, you’ve been googly eyed over him since you first brought him to our dorm so…”

“I was not Hunk!”

“Sure Lance. So what do you have planned for tonight anyways, something ridiculous but sweet i’m sure?” At that moment Pidge walks in the door, throwing their bookbag on the floor and placing their butt in the normal spot on the beanbag chair.

“What’s up guys?”

“Lance asked Keith out!” Hunk shouts and then covers his mouth like a child that just said a bad word in front of their parents.

“Hunk!” Lance spits in Hunk’s direction. He wanted to wait until after the date to tell Pidge just in case it went horribly wrong, which it won’t, because everyone knows Pidge is savage and won’t let Lance forget it he fucks up his first date with a boy, Keith in particular.

Pidge’s face drops but then quickly reverts back to its mischievous grin and they shoot Lance a look that says, I knew you liked him you little shit.

“Really? Damn Lance, didn’t know you had it in you. Hunk you owe me ten bucks by the way.”

Lance drops the capri sun he currently drinking, the straw staying in his mouth while the pouch of sugary goodness drops to the floor, covering their shag carpet in another layer of scuz.

“Lance not again!” Hunk quickly shoots up to start wiping the floor with the paper towels he keeps out and ready because Lance is the clumsiest person he’s ever met. 

“You guys were taking bets on me?!”

Hunk’s eyes dart up at Pidge but he continues to wipe the carpet, ejecting himself from the conversation. 

“Yeah, I said you would ask him out by the end of the month and Hunk said it would take longer.”  
Hunk finally stops cleaning and remembers something. “Wait, but you owe me five bucks because you said Keith would say no and I said he would accept the offer.” Pidge looks annoyed and sticks their tongue out to blow Hunk a raspberry, grabbing in their bookbag and pulling out a five. “Fine, here.”

Lance is frozen in a state of shock. How dare his best friends, his comrades, his wingmen not only bet on him liking Keith, but then bet on him rejecting him. 

“You guys suck, you know that.”

Hunk and Pidge look up and give Lance cheeky smiles and then in unison sing-speak, “You know you love us!”

“Hmmm, I’m questioning if it’s worth it.” But his words don’t match their bite because Lance hasn’t actually stopped smiling all morning except for brief moments every couple of minutes when he realizes he’s nervous about going out with frickin Keith.

“So what are you doing on your date?” Pidge asks casually.

“Save it Pidge, he won’t tell me. He keeps avoiding the question.”

“I am not!...Okay I actually am a little, it’s a surprise. You’ll just have to hear about it when I get back if I feel like telling you.” Lance is back to his witty, obnoxious self, chewing on the capri sun straw, his head dangling upside down off the bed while his legs are propped up on the wall. There is now a surprising lack of crumpled laundry on the bed, to Hunk’s relief, meaning that Lance was too excited and pumped up on adrenaline last night to go to sleep and stayed up all night putting his laundry away as a means to pass the time. 

Pidge takes up a similar position on the beanbag, glasses sliding off their nose and down their forehead. “All I can say is you better not fuck this date up, I actually like Keith, it’d be a shame if he never talks to us again.” 

“Yeah, he told me he could teach me a couple moves from Kill Bill!”

“Wow, thanks for your guys inspiring words of encouragement.” Lance deadpans before blowing at the straw so that it flies and lands in Hunk’s m&m mcflurry. 

“Oh come on man, now y mcflurry is contaminated with Lance cooties!”

\--------

A couple hours have passed, Hunk and Pidge are now playing video games, eating more fast food to ease away their hangovers with grease and fatty goodness. They’ve seen Lance try on at least twenty outfits and style the same few pieces of stray hairs over and over while he waits for 5 o’clock to arrive. He settles on dark blue skinny jeans, a light blue, short sleeve button down, and some white converse. Despite the effort put into his hair, to anyone else it just looks looks like the same walnut colored, slightly wavy, messy style with a few long wisps framing his cheek bones. 

“Do I look okay?” Lance asks Hunk again for the seventieth time while patting down is shirt.

“Yes Lance, you look like a beautiful angel floating down from heaven, just stop asking me already.”

“I don’t want to look like an angel though, I want to look HHHOOOTT.”

“ Ehh Lance, please don’t make me barf now, my hangover is just going away.”

“You guys drink too much-”

His sentence is stopped by the sound of the door being knocked. 

“Oh shit, that’s Keith.” At the sound of first knock Lance is running around the room, contemplating every decision he has made. 

“Fuck, maybe this was a mistake. I could-I could just climb out this window and-”

Hunk cuts his increasingly delirious friend off. “Lance, just open the god damned door!”

“It’s much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality..no, oh come on that was good?” 

Lance shoots Pidge a glare, takes a deep breathe and approaches the door. His palms are sweaty and he knows his face is probably an embarrassing shade of red. Lance doesn’t get nervous or frazzled like this very often, especially when he’s romancing, his specialty in his own opinion. But Keith, Keith changes the game and Lance is nervous, verging on dysfunctional. When he finally opens the door, standing there as expected is Keith, looking calm and smug as fuck, what a little shit. He also looks...fuck..was Keith always this hot or is this Lance’s date eyes kicking in? Keith’s hair is its usual mildly wild and messy, but it looks soft and the stray pieces wrapping around his neck highlight his pale skin and collarbone which is partially exposed from the loose scoop necked t-shirt he is wearing that has the kind of holes in it that you usually pay a ludicrous amount of money for, around the hems. The tight black skinny jeans he wears make his legs look long and lean, but definitely a lot more defined than Lance’s. He has the same beat up black converse on, probably to remind Lance that he put some care into his outfit, but not too much. 

“Pssst, Lance, you wanna let Keith in the door, or are you just gonna stand there eye-fucking him for the rest of the date?” 

“Pidge shut the hell up!” Lance hisses back, and then directs his attention back to Keith who is blushing and chuckling softly. 

“Hey Keith.”

“Hey.” He puts his hand up as if he’s about to wave but quickly retreats when he realizes that Lance is literally standing in front of him. Lance gestures for him to come in and Keith timidly steps in.

“Hi Hunk...Pidge.”

“Sup Keith.”

“Yo.”

Before his friends can say anything else embarrassing, Lance grabs his wallet and his pilot goggles from his bedside table, and then starts to usher Keith out the door.

“Okay well this has been nice but we’re gonna leave, see you whenever... let’s go, hurry Keith, before the vultures attack, go, go.” Keith is pushed out the door, Lance’s hands on his back and his feet getting tripped up and tangled on the other’s.

“Ow, Lance! Okay we’re out you can stop!”

Lance takes a deep breath, relieved that he avoided any sort of “talk” between Keith and his mother hen Hunk and el diablo, Pidge.

“Sorry, I just didn’t want to deal with them anymore today.” Lance relaxes and smiles warmly, eyes gazing over Keith again, this time in private. He puts his hand out and bows his head a little as if he’s the carriage driver and Keith is royalty. Keith doesn’t know what to do about it for a few moments but then he picks up on what Lance is silently asking and he timidly reaches his hand out to meet the other boy’s. When his cold, clammy hand meets the warm touch of Lance’s, he reflexively wants to pull his hand away, not expecting Lance to be so warm, and a little sweaty, but he pushes back the feeling and keeps their hands entwined. Soon, the warmth of Lance’s long fingers wrapped around Keith’s make him feel comfortable, a subtle reminder of why this was a good idea. Keith realizes that it's Lance's smile, well this smile that is soft but totally genuine, completely different from the smirk that is usually plastered to his face, is what contradicts his cocky act he puts on. This smile is incapable of lying, which comforts Keith in some weird way. Maybe it's because he's so bad at reading people that it feels almost like a privilege to be able to read Lance loud and clear. He clasps Lance's hand a little tighter and allows a small smile to creep up over him. Lance notices. 

"Are you really gonna wear those out?" With his free hand Keith points at the vintage pilot goggles situated on Lance's head, giving him a look of mild disgust but also genuine curiosity. 

"Course, they're my thing you know, like you and that jacket you always wear!" Lance grins widely, not showing the slightest ounce of shame in his taste in headwear. 

Keith wrinkles his nose but then his face softens again after realizing that the horrendous goggles actually look, kinda cute? Only Lance could make them look good.

"I'm not even wearing my normal jacket though." He holds up a black leather jacket that is quite frankly lacking the character and finesse of his staple red one.

"You want me to take them off, are they embarrassing you Keithy?"

Keith rolls his eyes dramatically enough to speak for him, and sighs, "You know you're weird right?"

Lance chuckles, "Yep" He pops the p letting the sound fade into more shared silence. 

...

“Okay, where to?”

“Ah, ah ah Keith, it’s a surprise. Do you really think i’m the kind of person who gives away their date agenda first thing? I live for surprises!” Lance smirks and looks slightly down at Keith, then smiles a little bigger, teeth becoming visible. 

“I guess not. It was worth a try though....You look nice...despitethestupidglasses” Keith mutters, instantly wanting to suck the words back into his mouth.

It takes Lance for a spin, making him speechless once again.

“Uhh, thanks, you too…”

“That was convincing.” Keith knows he’s messing with Lance who is obviously nervous, but it’s just too easy to pass up.

“Sorry, sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you to...you look really nice too, like reeeaaallly nice.”

Keith chuckles and they walk in comfortable silence for most of the walk to the metro station. Lance occasionally breaks up the silence by telling Keith little things he likes about the school or weird/interesting facts about whatever odd things they pass on the walk. When they reach the metro station Lance parts their hands for long enough to buy tickets and then immediately scoops Keith’s hand back into his as if the momentary loss of touch is unbearable. It knocks Keith into a daze, his mind wandering, thinking about Lance, how he’s holding hands with him in public, how he doesn’t hate it, how he actually hated the separation too. 

They sit down in the metro, Keith plants himself next to the window in case he needs an excuse to look somewhere other than in Lance’s direction. He can’t help it, doesn’t want to look away from Lance, but his body naturally puts itself in defense mode wherever he goes, his brain and eyes constantly searching for exits and escapes in case the need comes around. He hates that he’s doing it now with Lance. The darker boy finally breaks the silence after getting settled. 

“So...are you ready?”

“For what?”

“For the best date ever!”

“Hmm, someone’s getting a little cocky…”

“No, i’m just confident in my ability to romance your socks off.”

“Okay Lance, before you do that, can you please just promise me to keep cool about this, like don’t put too much pressure on it, or else...you know, one of us will probably crack under the pressure and ruin it.” Keith looks sad for a moment, letting Lance see for a brief moment that he’s nervous too, that he doesn’t want to ruin the date as much as Lance doesn’t want to with his stupidity and fiery attitude. 

Lance lightly puts his thumb under Keith’s chin and whispers so that no one else on the metro can hear them.

“Hey, Keith, look at me. Don’t worry, I gotcha, no pressure, I promise. This is supposed to be fun, no getting emo on me already.” He winks and brushes his thumb on Keith’s jawline before reconnecting it with Keith’s hand. 

“Besides, you’re the drama queen in this relationship Keithy!”


	13. That's Amore?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like pop-punk/good music check out WATERPARKS new song "Stupid For You" that just came out today! I feel like just the phrase Stupid For You describes Klance so well
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laG5ROOjT-c

The metro stops and the doors open and Lance immediately bounces up, and takes off with Keith, sliding his slim frame through the doors before they are even fully opened. Keith trips on a stroller that is parked near the entrance and he’s apologizing profusely at the mother holding the stroller, who’s yelling in some language he can’t understand but he’s sure translates to something like “watch it, asshole”

Lance continues bounding out the metro station, his long legs gliding over the pavement while Keith’s move rapidly to keep up. Soon they are outside the station, facing the familiar, vibrant street they visited just days before, on a completely different type of outing. The town looks even more lively than before, more college students and young people around now that school is in full session, most of them looking to get drunk at whatever bar will let them in with their unconvincing fakes. The neon lights and the bright sounds promise that this Saturday night is young and awaiting for the dedicated townies to fill it with their voices, and drunken antics, and memorable moments.

“Okay, first thing on the agenda, food, as promised.”

Lance guides Keith down the street into an area that’s reminiscent of a littler, little italy. There are small shops lining both sides of the street, and the air is thick with the sounds of soft folk music and the smells of freshly baked bread.

“I’m guessing we’re going to an Italian place?”

“Yep.” Lance smugly answers and then pulls Keith across the street, bringing him to the front door of a small restaurant called il pomodoro maturo. The facade of the restaurant is a wall of bricks coated in chipping white paint, ivy working it’s way up the exterior. The large window at the street front exposes the inside to be a small, quaint space with tables covered in white linen cloths, a flickering candle positioned in the middles, providing just enough light to cast warm, delicate light onto the faces of the diners. The entire restaurant has a magical air about it, the space glimmering from the candles and delicate fairy lights decorating the walls. It’s similar to the tree on campus that Keith and Lance visited the first night they met, it has character and history, it has a story. Keith feels his breath catching in his lungs and tells himself to get it together before they walk into the front and Lance asks for a table.

An elderly man who speaks with a strong italian accent seats them at a table next to the front window, giving them a view of the bustling street from a different perspective. The man gives them their menus and places a napkin on each of their laps, which makes Lance giggle a little bit, he’s usually used to shoving wads of fast food napkins in his shirt or more likely, just wiping his hands on his pants, which everyone does, admit it or not. Both boys duck their heads into their menus, not sure what to say now that they are actually sitting down, having dinner together, date-ing. The sounds of people chatting, waiters and waitresses bustling about, and more soft, mellow music playing in the background drowns out the silence, which Lance is grateful for because he has a tendency to breath heavily out of his mouth when he’s nervous, like he just ran a marathon, but really it’s his body punishing him for these alien feelings of nervousness. Lance steals a couple of glances over at Keith, peeking from behind his menu as the dark haired boy studies the endless list of entrees written in italian. He giggles when he sees Keith silently sounding out some word in italian and then giving up halfway through and moving on to the next.

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, a young woman wearing a wine red dress with a small apron tied around her waist is standing next to the table, laying down a basket of bread and then pouring oil into a fancy white saucer. Lance notices immediately that she is the spitting image of the older man who seated them.

“Benvenuto gentlemen. I am Sophia, I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get you anything to drink to start off with?”

Keith finally looks up from his menu, realizing that someone is talking to them. The look in his eyes tell Lance he has no idea what this woman has just said to them and Lance should definitely speak first. Lance of course, takes the situation as a perfect opportunity to show Keith how suave he can be.

“Buonasera Sophia, what a lovely name. We will take a bottle of the recommended wine of the day, and also we’re just going to order the special for two.” Lance puts the utmost effort into looking mature and cool, and snags a glance at Keith who looks like he might lose it any second considering Lance just ordered them wine, and picked out Keith’s meal without permission.

Sophia gives lance a playfully curious looks and bends over, only slightly because he’s so tall, to speak to him on the down low.

“You sure you boys are old enough to order wine?”

Lance hears the question and immediately straightens up, not giving her a second to find a trace of doubt in his body language.

“Oh Sophia, how kind of you but alas, we are actually twenty three. Keith right here, he’s approaching twenty four real soon, and well he doesn’t like to talk about his mid twenties gaining up on him, it’s a touchy subject.” He knows he’s really reaching on that last part but once he gets bullshitting, it’s hard to stop. Sophia giggles and gives Lance a look that clearly says, I know you’re lying you suave little shit, but i’m gonna give you a break.

She glances between Keith and Lance once more and smiles before heading towards the kitchen to put in their order. Lance immediately grabs for the bread, all that being grown up really wore him out, but Keith kicks him in the shin, a little too hard.

“Ow Keith, what was that for?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to kick you that hard, but what was all that?” He gestures his hands towards Lance’s general direction.

“What?--Oh you mean my overwhelming charm, or my elite bullshitting skills?” Lance raises one eyebrow, but then gets quickly distracted by the bread again. This time Keith lets him take a piece and watches Lance drool over it as if it’s an glimmering diamond.

“Nevermind. But you’re paying for the wine.” Lance mumbles a mhmmm with a mouth stuffed full of bread. Keith grabs his own bread, ripping it in half without any grace and dunking it into the oil mixture like it’s freaking oreo in a glass of milk.

Lance gulps down his bread. “Sheesh Keith, could be any more of a heathen? We’re in a restaurant.”

“Says the guy who is practically getting off on it.”

But then Keith finally looks up at Lance for the first time since he put that beautiful piece of bread in his mouth, okay it was damn good. His face drops a little and he looks at the table cloth underneath him which is covered in bread crumbs. He can’t help it when laughter explodes from his mouth. Lance looks confused for a second and then starts laughing too because Keith’s laugh is surprisingly contagious and he doesn’t get to hear it often.

Keith settles down a little bit, trying to scoop some of the breadcrumbs in his hands before the waitress comes back.

“This is why we can’t have nice things.” Lance chuckles again, proud of Keith for making a quality joke. He watches Keith frantically trying to clean up the mess, his indigo eyes wide and sparkling next to the flickering candle a the center of the table, which if he’s honest, he’s surprised they haven’t caught the tablecloth on fire, but the night is still young. He feels his heart jump a little bit, and at that exact moment, Sophia is standing once again at the table, holding the bottle of wine that they totally, legitimately ordered. Keith tosses the little bread crumbs onto the little plate hidden by the bread basket like a dork and tries to compose himself. Lance is pretty sure his crush just escalated by twelve.

“Okay, here we have a bottle of specialty wine that you requested.” She pours a little bit into each of the their cups and waits.

After a split second of staring at Sophia and waiting for her to leave, Lance realizes he’s supposed to be doing something. He grabs the cup and starts twirling it around like his sister does to look fancy when they go out to dinner.

He puts the glass up to his lips, “Let’s see if this is up to my-” He waves his hand around the brim of the cup, “refined palette.” Keith snorts and sips on his own glass and exchanging glances with Sophia. They’ve practically had an entire silent conversation about how Lance is a dumbass, but a cute dumbass? Before Lance separates his lips from the glass and make little ‘tss’ noises with his tongue, trying to extract information about its aroma and floral notes or some shit he saw on the food channel.

“Sophia, mio caro, this wine is excellent, a gem among rocks, a star-

She cuts him off politely, knowing where this is going. “I am very glad you like it. It is one of my family’s favorites. Are we celebrating anything tonight? Anniversary? This is a date right, because I messed that up last week and had two very uncomfortable business partners arguing over who would pay the bill.”

Lance and Keith trade confused glances, neither knowing exactly what to say, worried about giving the wrong answer. Shockingly, Keith speaks up-

“Actually, this is our first date. I kissed him and we got in a fight so my punishment is him taking me on a date and buying me expensive food.”

Sophia’s face is riddled with confusion at Keith’s very vague, but interesting story, Lance’s face is washed in disbelief(with a little bit of being turned on, whatever look that is), and Keith, well he’s just smiling evilly at Lance because he made him speechless for once.

Sophia fills up the rest of their glasses, internally laughing at Keith and Lance’s odd, but undeniable chemistry.

“Well, I hope that the night is everything you want it to be. You two seem like a lovely pair. Maybe he’ll kiss you this time.” She points at Keith and then walks away, leaving the dark haired boy blushing and devoid of any of the confidence he had a few seconds ago.

“Well, that was, umm, interesting?” Lance spews out after being silent too long.

“Yeah, I- I honestly don’t even know what just happened either.”

“Oh, i’m not letting you forget it that easily mr. let me tell the waitress our entire relationship history.” Lance has his crooked smile plastered to his face, a smile that probably won’t go away for the remainder of the night. He lets his eyes wander and explore whatever of Keith he can see from across the table, those eyes again, his porcelain skin, his collarbone which is jutting out from his shirt, contoured by shadows and lights flickering around them. Keith does the same to Lance until they finally make eye contact and stay locked like that for a few, prolonged moments, before it gets embarrassing. Keith hopes one day it won’t be like that. Like he can just look into Lance’s compelling, blue eyes for as long as he wants.

“So, how do you know Italian?”

“Huh? Oh, I don’t really, I just know a couple of words and phrases because it’s pretty similar to Spanish and I like to try and pick up a few things of use.”

“So of use means anything you can use to flirt and/or manipulate people?”

“Keith, how dare you, I would never manipulate anyone. More like, persuasion? And plus, I was not flirting, I’m saving that for you.” Keith gets the cool knocked out of him. He really can’t handle flirty Lance right now, he never can, but definitely not now.

“Hmmm, pretty sure those are all just derivations of flirting, with slightly different motives. But...I guess it’s cool that you can pick up on languages like that. I can’t for shit.”  
“Wow, you’re complimenting me?” He points a finger into his chest. “Ehh, I could be better if I tried studying them. I just look up words when I feel like it. So you only speak English?” Lance prods a little, trying to get some insight of Keith’s life besides school and piloting and being a hothead, like literally hot in every meaning of the word.

“Pretty much. I switched schools a lot as a kid so I never really had time to properly learn anything more than ‘My name is Keith’ in French, heh.”

“Oh, well that’s okay. I can teach you how to say a few curse words in like fifteen languages if you want. Just not Spanish cuz that’s my thing...If you don’t mind me asking, is your last name Japanese?”

Keith would normally go silent at any mention of his family, but he is finding it surprisingly easy to want to talk. Something about Lance makes everything easier, unless they’re talking about their own feelings, then it’s impossible.

“Yeah, it is. I’m half Japanese, half Korean, I think, I’m just American though really, i’ve never even been to either place.”

“Same, I was born here but my Mama’s Mexican and lived in Cuba, but she’s so devoted to her culture that I feel Cuban you know, like it would feel like home if I visited. She'd kill me if she knew that my crappy fiestas are the only homage to my heritage in college. Last year I told her I was joining the Latin American club but she found out the truth eventually.” Lance can’t help but be enthusiastic when he talks about his family, well about his Mama at least, she is his world. Keith can sense that they’re close just from that one sentence. He can’t reciprocate the feeling about his own mother.

Sophia interrupts once more, just when the conversation was getting anywhere, when she arrives with two giant plates of lasagna, beautifully prepared and still steaming. She places them on the table and asks if there’s anything else she can get for them. They shake their heads no and she disappears, not wanting to intrude anymore on the date.

Lance’s eyes light up at the sight of the lasagna, god this kid really loves food. Keith can reciprocate that feeling. He’s not even sure how much of the bread made it into his mouth, and he needs food or else this wine is going to be a mistake. They both dig into their food, commenting back and forth about how good it is and how if this lasagna were a person, Lance would totally tap that. Keith is so entranced in the buttery goodness that he forgets to make a snarky comment, that’s how good it is. They spend the rest of dinner like this, chatting about pointless things, talking about school, about Cuban food which Lance is determined to expose Keith to ASAP. They sit there until the wine is gone and the dinner rush is over, leaving only a handful of tables still occupied by couples and small families. Sophia comes by one last time to ask if they want dessert, but Lance declines because he wants to buy Keith ice cream, which he refuses to tell him about because it’s part of the secret agenda.They get the check, well Lance gets it, as per the agreement, even though Keith insists on paying the tip. They have to hold back from having an argument about it in the middle of the restaurant. It escalated up to the point where Lance was trying to physically shove Keith’s money back into his pants pocket, but kind of felt up his ass in the process and so he gave up and vacated the premises.

They walk out of the restaurant, the streets are still fairly busy, now illuminated completely by the neon lights at the front of every store. Lance experimentally grabs Keith’s hand once they start walking and Keith doesn’t pull away. Without a word Keith lets Lance guide them to the next destination. They arrive at a little ice cream shop a few blocks down the street and when they walk in a little bell rings, alarming the plump lady at the register that they entered.

She looks up, glances back down to her register, then does a double take when she realizes who has entered her store.

“Lance, oh darlin’, it’s been too long. Come here and give me a big a hug.”

“Hey, Missy!” Lance separates his hand from Keith’s and walks towards the counter to enter the arms of the lady known as Missy. Keith stares in wonderment, feeling like he just walked in on some bizarre family reunion.

“It’s so nice to see you Lance. And who is this handsome boy you were holding hands with?” She points at Keith but then walks straight over to him to embrace him in a hug. He stand frozen for a second but then awkwardly puts his hands around her plump middle. Lance giggles in the background until she separates herself from Keith.

“Oh, uh, this is Keith. He’s-He goes to my school.”

“Is that it?”

Lance’s cheeks fill with a pink hue and he chokes a little on his spit.

“Well, um, he’s...we…-”

“I get it, still in that stage huh? Ah young love.” Lance regrets every decision he has made, ice cream was a terrible idea.

“Okay well, I was just going to get us some ice cream and then we have to get going.”

Missy huffs, “Fine, but you better come back here soon. None of this three months away business. And you better bring him too next time. The usual?” She winks at Keith and then goes to grab a scoop.

“Yep, always the usual. And you can just give us one big cup.”

The lady scoops several large scoops of ice cream into a massive cup and then proceeds to sprinkle a multitude of toppings onto it, finished off with hot fudge and whip cream. She hands it off to Lance and refuses his money, telling him it’s on the house as long as he comes by soon. He nods and grabs the cup and two spoons before scooting Keith out the door and waving one last time.

He passes a spoon to Keith who rolls his eyes.

“First you pick my food and now I have to share an ice cream with you like a dork?”

“You’re catching on.” Lance grins at him and then plunges his spoon into the chocolate mountain before him, taking time to excavate all of the toppings so he can make the perfect first bite. He is about to put it into his mouth when a better idea runs through his head. He swooshes the spoon away from his lips and towards Keith’s, shoving the enormous bite into his date’s mouth and watching Keith’s face turn from rage to mild annoyance to bliss.

Keith has to chew on the cookie dough chunks for several moments before he can speak.

“You didn’t just do that?”

“I think you know what the answer to that is. And don’t complain or I might do it again.”

“Why am I on a date with you again?”

“Because you find my winning personality and devilish good looks irresistible.”

Keith sticks his tongue out and then he takes another bite of ice cream.

“Maybe i’ll just date you for the free food.”

“Hey! I’m not your sugar daddy!...Well actually...” He considers it for a second.

“Eww Lance, you made it weird.”

Lance chuckles to himself as they walk and eat ice cream (from the same cup, so cute). Even though Lance’s hand feels like it’s going to freeze off, it’s so worth it every time Keith grabs his arm to stabilize it and get another spoonful.

“Keith?”

“Mhhm”

“Can we talk...you know about this.”

“Uhh, what’s there to talk about?”

“I don’t know, I mean just like, what is this? I just want to be on the same page, or like know if we’re even on similar pages.”

Keith stops abruptly, turning and facing Lance in all seriousness. He didn’t really think there was much to discuss but he can see now that there is, actually there’s a lot about this that doesn’t make sense. He takes Lance’s forearm and guides him to a bench in the park they are walking through.

“Ok, I guess you’re right. I just...i’m not...great at talking about-”

Lance cuts him off, seeing that Keith is uncomfortable.

“I don’t want to make you nervous, I just want to talk a little, no pressure. I just...I can’t handle constantly wondering what’s going on, like it makes me on edge...And this is-you’re kind of always in my head currently so it would help me not go crazy if I just knew how you felt…” Lance looks down at the ice cream dejectedly. He feels like a loser talking about his feelings like this to Keith, basically begging him to lay down his feelings open face, but it’s true. In his lifetime, the amount of nights Lance has laid awake wracking his brain about relationships and (usually) unrequited crushes, is pathetic, and Keith, well he’s on a whole other level of crush that will surely make Lance an insomniac.

Once again, Keith has no words, nothing to say to Lance to comfort him, to convince him that despite his efforts to hate Lance, he actually feels quite the opposite. That in this moment, sharing an intoxicatingly sweet ice cream with him, seeing his blue eyes devour the incandescent glow of the moon, walking side by side with him, is one of the best feelings he’s ever had, and that he wants nothing more than to do it over and over again with Lance. The only thing he can do is take action, let his body speak for him the way it does in any other situation.

He cups Lance’s chin with his fingertips and guides their mouths together, his lips pressing against Lance’s lower lip, his other hand finding its way to the back of Lance’s neck and curling his fingers around the wisps of curly hair that sit just above his collar. Lance leans into the kiss, finally kissing Keith back, settling the question that he might have done it back in the dorm if Keith hadn’t stopped too soon. Lance is kissing Keith back with so much ferocity that it’s a challenge do much with the kiss, their lips playing for dominance. But Keith pulls away slightly and returns by biting Lance’s lip enough to probably bruise it by tomorrow. Lance gasps and Keith slips his tongue into his mouth, eliciting another gasp and then a low hum from Lance’s throat as their tongues explore each other’s mouths. Lance has one hand around Keith’s waist and the other still cradling the melting ice cream. At some point he gets so caught up in trying to grab at Keith’s criminally sexy, hole ridden shirt that he drops the ice cream on the ground with neither boy noticing. His hands bury themselves in Keith’s shirt, pulling him closer, their bodies practically entangled on the bench. A loud siren increasing in volume as its gets closer awakes them from the kiss.They pull apart and simultaneously look towards the street to see a fire truck racing through the narrow pathway. When it’s passed they look back at each other, both breathing heavily, lungs scorning them for the lack of oxygen. Lance places his sweaty forehead against Keith’s and breathes in, breathing in Keith and his beauty, and the ludicrousness of this moment, and all that is good in the world right now. Lance laughs softly and Keith joins in, but they refuse to separate just yet, relishing in the night.


	14. Bad Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date ends up with Lance and Keith in an unexpected part of town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk even what this chapter is. It's kind of self indulgent and has little to no context in the main plot of this fic, but it's cute as fuck, imo. I don't even feel like writing full sentences right now, so i'm just going to leave this here.
> 
> WARNING: this chapter has mention of needles/piercings so if you don't like that, I wouldn't read. It's not graphic at all though, trust me, I am mega squeamish.
> 
> UPDATE: Ahhhh! Oh my god, I can't believe this has 1500 hits! thank you so much for all the love and stuff :)

They sat on the bench like that for a long time, chatting, stress free for once, while Lance delicately draws letters into Keith’s palms with his fingers, trying to make Keith guess the words, and Keith inevitably failing (which is honestly even cuter in Lance’s mind). They stay long enough that the moon and the stars are the only lights to frame their faces, each cast with an expression of desire and true to the core happiness, and a bit of child-like curiosity, as if they’re searching for something to convince them this night is a fairytale. It is all disgustingly sweet, and they will surely cringe back at the memories of their first date sometime down the road, but right now, this is perfect, a night unblemished by stupid rivalries or bottled emotions. Only when Lance realizes that the street has gone dark, save a few of the sketchier stores still lit up in neon lights, and the town shrouded with the eerie quiet of the new autumn air, does he break out of the trance. 

“Wow, it got really dark all of the sudden. We should probably head back.”

Keith snaps out of it too, a little disappointed when he sees their surroundings and can really only agree that they should get the hell outta there. The decision to leave becomes exponentially easier when him and Lance are both startled by a racoon, that Lance is unabashedly convinced is actually a rabid chupacabra, sent to murder them in the night, grubbing through a garbage can a few stores down. 

“Ok, yep, we’re leaving.” Keith grabs Lance’s hand and they briskly start to walk back towards the central part of town. The night has gotten much chillier with the sun down and a newly energized breeze whipping through the air. Luckily, both Lance and Keith have jackets on so they don’t have to experience the inevitably cliche, ‘you want my jacket?’ conversation. Well they would be lucky if Lance weren’t an idiotic, hopeless romantic who can’t resist a good cliche. He tries to offer his jacket and gets the world’s most dramatic eye rolling and scoff from Keith, as if the gesture was so awful he’d rather be frozen Han Solo style than wear Lance’s jacket. Lance would be more offended, except for that his mind is constantly being distracted by one thing every time the wind blows against their faces, the fact that the goddamn breeze is making Keith’s hair blow around like he’s some kind of runway model, and every few seconds or so, Lance thinks he sees a trace of silver poking out of Keith’s hair where his ear would be. 

“Hey Keith?”

Keith takes a second to brush his bangs out of his eyes for the fiftieth time in the last couple of minutes, because he, like any normal person knows, that wind, plus long hair, equals actual hell. He spits a piece out of his mouth and replies with an unexpected agitation in his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, uh, are you okay, you sound annoyed?”

Keith lets out a small chuckle, ever so slightly embarrassed at himself that his go to voice is so...agitated. It’s never really bothered him before, but a lot of things have changed in the last several days. “Oh, yeah i’m fine, sorry, I just don’t like wind very much, it’s kind of...the worst thing ever.” He spits another piece out of his mouth and tries to tuck it behind his ear, only to have it fall right back in his face. 

Lance takes in a deep breathe and hums a random tune, before expelling the air with a melodramatic sigh.

“Really? I love the wind, it makes me feel, I don’t know...alive. It’s like the closest thing to flying that most people have. It’s what made me want to fly I think, feeling like the wind is pushing me somewhere important. You know when you’re at the beach, and you stand just at the shore with the waves crashing at your feet, the tide is rolling in and out, and you’re right on the precipice of land and the ocean, and that breeze you know, it just gives you the extra push towards the water...it’s hypnotizing...I really miss the beach.” 

Okay, Keith wasn’t prepared for that, like at all, what even was that? Does Lance just have these things prepared all the time, saving them for the right opportunity, or is he just unequivocally deep when he wants to be? Keith wants to hug Lance so tight that their bodies become one, wants to stare into his eyes again and see the ocean that he talked about, wants to make him feel alive. Instead, he takes in all of Lance, like a piece of art, well a piece of garbage, albeit beautiful, that just transformed itself into some kind of art. 

“Lance?”

“Hmmm?”

“You..you confuse me, you know that?”

Lance giggles at that, a low kind of laugh that comes from deep within.

“I’m hoping that it’s a good kind of confusion, or else I just embarrassed myself majorly in front of my crush.”

Keith cheeks go pink and he reflexively responds by pushing into Lance’s side so that the confusing boy stumbles a bit, before squeezing their hands tighter together. Keith wishes the little flirty remarks Lance makes didn’t have this kind of effect on him, but they do, and they seem to just be getting increasingly more effective at rendering Keith in a state of internal system failure.

Keith changes the subject for now. “What were you gonna ask me before you got all Ralph Emerson on me?”

“Ooh, Keith knows his shit huh? Well, actually, I just wanted to see something.”

Before Keith could question it, Lance was practically tackling him in a headlock, pushing back his hair from the side of his face.

“Hah, I knew it, you have an ear piercing!”

Keith snorted, “Yeah, so?”

Lance was grinning like some kind of deranged cartoon character. He was ready to dish out a berating of stupid one liners about the piercing and Keith trying to be a bad boy, but then, as he looks at it more, he realizes something detrimental to him...it’s really hot.

“Uhh, Well I-I...I don’t know..now that I actually know it’s there. Pidge and I had a bet going about if you had hidden piercings and/or tattoos, and I bet you for sure did, but they said you were too clean cut for that-”

“Wait, what? You guys bet on me? About that? Why?”

“Yeah, I mean this was like the day after we met you, and I was talking about your shitty music and t-shirts, and I said, I wonder if Keith’s like a full-on rebel, and then, yeah that’s how it started.”

“Okay A, what even is a rebel in your book? And B, this piercing isn’t even hidden hardly, and C, well I don’t know what C is, but i’m sure it’s something about you being a dumbass.”

Lance fakes taking offense to that and then exchanges the look for smirk.

“Would you like it better if I said that I was kind of hoping i’d win the bet...because you know... thepiercingskindahot.”

As if Keith’s shoe snagged on a bit of uneven sidewalk, Keith stumbles slightly. Did Lance actually compliment him for something style related?

“What was that last part, Lance? You kinda mumbled”

“N-Nothing, Keith! I just said..well okay I said I liked it. There, Keith, i’ve fallen pray to your bad boy demeanor, I said it. Someone please strike me dead now, dios mio.”

Keith tries to look at Lance with a straight face, but then he can’t help but explode into laughter. Making Lance lose his cool really never gets old. Lance is in a fit of sighing and laying out some insults as if they could negate what he just said about Keith’s apparently sexy ear piercing. 

“Uggh, Keith, shut up! i’m never gonna live this down, am I?”

“Nope.” Keith continues laughing, and Lance keeps whining, but there hands are still entangled as they walk down the street towards the metro station. 

“So…?” Lance starts again after they’ve been walking silently for a few minutes.

“Hmm?”

“Got any other piercings?” Lance wiggles his eyebrows and Keith immediately freezes up. 

“Gross Lance, don’t be a perv. I’d never do that.”

Lance looks like he might drop dead right now. “Oh shit, no I didn’t mean those kind of piercings! I mean...well I wouldn’t be totally weirded out by th-”

“Lance, i’m going to give you five seconds to shut up and never mention it again.”

“Okay, will do. But to be fair, I was actually being innocent this time, it was you whose head was in the gutter.”

“Whatever…”

“You still didn’t answer my question though.”

“ What? If I have any other piercings? You must be really into it, huh?”

“N-Noo! I just need to know, for the bet’s sake, for bragging to Pidge rights.”

“Sure Lance...But I do have a lip piercing, I just haven’t worn it in a while because i’m supposed to be “making a good impression” or whatever at school. 

“Huh...lip piercing, yeah, I can dig that, I want to see it.”

“What?”

“Well now that I know about it, I need to see you wear it, for research purposes of course, ya know, face symmetry and all that shit.”

“Well, i’m sorry to disappoint you but your “research” has to be put on hold because I didn’t bring my lip ring, it’s probably back at home.”

“We could go get one there.” Lance stops moving, jerking Keith back, his top half colliding into Lance’s chest while his feet are still trying to move forward. Lance barely moves at the impact. Instead, his gaze is focused across the street, deep blue irises and exploded pupils reflecting the image of a bright green, neon sign that says Zarkon’s Tattoos and Piercings in slimy looking lettering. Keith’s eyes finally follow Lance’s arm and pointed finger and he sees the sign for himself. Underneath it, a brick building with an industrial looking facade and a large glass window with a glaze that makes it look like the glass has tattoos on it. Keith is about to completely blow off the suggestion to go in there, but when he looks at Lance’s face again, it seems the curious face has been exchanged for one of pure wonder, and a little bit of mischief. Lance is going in there whether Keith likes it or not, and this time, Keith doesn’t really feel like fighting it. He likes weird little places like this anyways, and he’s been wanting to check out some tattoo parlors in California anyways, the ones back at home just weren’t cutting it for Keith’s vision. 

With just a nod of his head, Keith agrees and him and Lance cross the street towards the shop, Lance’s typically long strides, a little shorter, and a little more timid. Keith can’t help but think it’s endearing that Lance is probably scared to walk into a tattoo shop. When they reach the door there’s a sign with a bunch of rules on it along the lines of if you are drunk, high, rude, etc., get the fuck out, thank you. Lance just pushes the door open, revealing a wide, open room with black wood flooring, bright red walls, and jarringly bright fluorescent lights embedded into the ceiling. There is a line of large, black chairs on each side of the room, and in the center is a circular desk, currently being occupied by a young man with pale skin, entirely covered in tattoos, several face piercings, and bright green hair styled in a fade cut. 

Lance is simultaneously terrified and fascinated by the store, taking in all of its beauty, the witty signs hanging everywhere, the funky music playing in the background, the posters of cool tattoos lining the walls, and most of all, the equally beautiful, alternative looking people that are working there. Because it’s late, there’s only two tattoo artists working at the moment, a young, dark skinned guy wearing a black tank top and skinny jeans and a girl that looked to be in her early thirties, with hot pink hair pulled into a ponytail. They are both tattooing the ankles of what has to be, members of a bridal party, considering that there is a huddle of mid twenties, slightly inebriated, glittery girls sitting in the lounge chairs at the side of the entrance. No one notices Lance and Keith enter at first, the bridal party having full attention of the artists and the front desk guy. Keith looks over at Lance after they’ve been standing still for a while, before finally separating their hands and nudging Lance in the arm. 

“This was your idea Lance, you’re asking for the lip ring, it’s pretty much for you anyways.” Keith smirks a little, trying his hardest to make Lance squirm even more, a little payback for all the times he’s made Keith uncomfortable.

Lance clears his throat and looks back and forth between Keith and the front desk, all while remaining completely still.

“But, this is your kind of thing, Keith, maybe you should talk to him.”

“He’s not going to bite your hand off Lance, just go ask him. Just because someone looks like that doesn’t mean they’re scary.”

Lance sets his eyes on Keith’s, his face drifting back to its normal Lance-esque expression, soft eyes, harcore level expressive eyebrows, devilishly crooked grin. 

“I don’t know about that Keith. You look like you could bite my hand off, and you would do it too, no hesitation if it came down to it.”

“Shut up, I can’t believe you think I wouldn’t at least think about it.” Keith grabs Lance’s arm and pulls him towards the front desk where the green-haired man is now watching them with a friendly, but confused look on his face. He’s probably wondering why one half of the pair looks like he might piss his pants, and the other just looks pissed.

“Hi, how can I help you? We close in two hours just so you know, so if you want a tattoo, it’s probably gonna have to wait. We gotta finish up...this.” He gestures to the bridal party that seems to have somehow multiplied in the moments they’ve been there. Keith is aware he’s not the most perceptive person out there, but he’s pretty sure he didn’t see that scantily clad police officer feeding some girl a piece of, what is that? A dick cake, just a few seconds ago when they walked in. 

Lance is at a loss for words, his senses too overwhelmed by everything happening right now. Ideas are swimming in his mind, bad ideas? good ideas? he’s not sure. 

Keith gives Lance a disappointed glare and speaks up again. 

“I, um, was hoping to pick out a new lip ring. I took mine out a couple of weeks ago, and I need a new one.”

The green haired man stands up from his seat and starts gesturing for Keith and Lance to follow him towards the back of the shop.

“Okay, we have a bunch of jewelry. Do you have a certain type you’re looking for? Just steel, something with color, whatever you want, we probably have it.” They stop in front of glass table with some options displayed. 

“Oh, I’m not picking it out, he is.” Keith points at Lance who has suddenly become aware of his zombie-like state. The employee looks at him strangely.

“Oo-kay. Well, what does he have in mind then?”

Lance can feel the sweat starting to bead at the nape of his neck. Shit, he really has to pick a lip ring out for Keith? This wasn’t part of the plan. I mean, he should be immensely excited, he could pick something out that’s totally garish and out of character for Keith, but then he won’t wear it, so that means he must pick out something quintessentially Keith, which is much easier said than done. The stress is piling up, this is not a first date level test, it’s easily along the lines of 3 monthiversary test, which Keith is well aware of, and enjoying every second of. 

Lance peers over the glass table, looking for anything that stands out to him. The green haired man starts asking Keith about stuff, probably things too “cool” for Lance to know about, but he’s focused on the task at hand. There’s a couple flashier ones that Lance is so tempted to pick out for Keith, ones with little gems or colorful beads on them, or ones that curl into crazy shapes, but Lance knows enough about Keith, despite their short relationship, to know he won’t be into that. He keeps going back and forth between two so he asks the guy how much each one is, pointing through the glass but hiding the choices from Keith with his arm. 

“That one’s 25 and the other one’s $15.”

“Okay, we’ll take both.”

Keith looks over at Lance, who is grinning as the guy unlocks the case and takes the rings out for him to see. He sees Lance nod and then shake his head at the guy, having some sort of silent conversation that Keith can’t understand, and then the guy goes to the back of the shop to get the rings. 

Keith unpauses and tugs at Lance’s jacket. “Why did you pick two, I only need one. And I don’t even get to see it first?”

Lance tugs away his jacket from Keith’s grip and instead, takes the fuming boy’s arm and drapes it around his side. “Nope, that’s the deal, I pick, you wear, I...enjoy?”

Keith grimaces at Lance’s sly grin. “It’s my lip though! And-” Keith lowers his voice a little to more of a whisper yell, “you’re breaking the deal we had. No gifts!”

“No, you said I couldn’t get you flowers because it was cheesy and stupid, you said nothing about me buying you cool lip rings, which are really a gift for me, because I have to look at you, which now that i’m noticing, the hole in your lip looks really weird without anything there. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it.”

“I can believe it, dumbass.”

“Hey! This dumbass is making sure his boyfriend looks cool.” The second the last words come out of his mouth, Lance is in mental upheaval. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, that wasn’t supposed to come out at this particular moment, late at night in a tattoo shop with drunk bridesmaids and a picture of a tattooed butt next to them. When he finally chances a glance at Keith, he can see that the soon-to-be lip ringed boy is slightly surprised, but nonetheless cool about it. Wow, leave it to now for Keith to stop being a drama queen in moments when it might be acceptable. He literally sprinted out of the room the other day because of a kiss and now Lance just dropped the B word, and all is chill, not fair. They don’t have time to freak out anymore because the green haired man is walking back to the front desk to ring them up.

“Sorry, it took a little longer than expected because this one is actually brand new, from a new line of Altean body jewelry.” He holds up the piece of jewelry and it’s a small, black ring. At first Keith just thinks it’s a simple steel ring, but then when Lance grabs it and shows him it up close, he can see that there’s a very thin, red strip of color that goes down the middle of the ring. It’s a deep red that looks like stone and it contrasts with the onyx looking, midnight black ring. A small smile places itself on Keith’s face, which Lance notices and memorizes immediately. The other ring is pretty simple, just a blackish-metallic looking ring with a ball at each end. It’s simple and it’s definitely Keith. 

“So, you like them?”

“Yeah, err, you actually did a lot better than I expected. I’m kinda shocked.”

“Wow Keith, thanks for your vote of confidence. See, I know what your emo ass likes?”

“Hmm, we’ll see about that.”

Lance regrets everything, again...Shot have been fired, burrowed through his chest, nestled in his heart cavity, incapacitated Lance down to basic vital body functions. Keith is actually going to kill him with that mouth. That was supposed to be Lance’s thing.

All he can do is let out an awkward laugh and a pshhh sound before the green haired man asks, “Okay, if that’s it, that’ll be $37.50.”

“Actually-” Lance slams his hand down onto the desk.

“That will not be it.”

Both Keith and the man at the desk dart looks at each other and then at Lance, utterly confused. It’s like they’ve already formed some sort of weird, bonded telepathic connection stemming from their shared recognition of Lance’s idiotic, impetuous behavior.

“Uhh, Lance, what else are you getting?”

“I’m getting my ear pierced.”

“What? Now?”

“Yeah, no time like the now. I’ve always wanted an earring, but my sister told me “nice girls” don’t like that. But you’re a guy, who’s only sometimes nice, and who’s a dork with no fashion sense, so i’m fucking getting one.”

“You know what, I should be offended by that, but I think I actually want you to get it.”

 

“Really? Why’s that?”

“Two reasons. One, I get to see if you’re a wimp about it. Two, you didn’t say YOLO just a second ago, you could have, I thought you would have, and you didn’t, and for that I am grateful.”

Lance is laughing, and so is the guy at the desk who was quietly watching this entire conversation unfold for the last few minutes. The bridal party is laughing too because they are sure whatever happened was reason for them to giggle along, and to...wait, now there’s a policeman and a fireman...with impeccable biceps? Do they realize this is a tattoo parlor, not a strip club?

“So, can we pierce me up, green haired man?”

The guy at the desk doesn’t even bother sporting a surprised face at this point; Lance has that effect on most people.

“Oh, my name is Eric by the way. And, I won’t be piercing you but Katia here maybe can. The young tattoo artist lifts her head up from her phone, and gives Lance and Keith a bright smile. 

“Do you guys need something?”

“This young man wants an ear piercing. Are you done with the tattoos?”

“Yeah, there’s only one more bridesmaid left and Zack’s got her so I can do it.”

She gets up from her chair and walks over to Lance, giving him a full look up and down, and then settling back at his face. 

“So whatcha wanna get pierced?”

A bewildered look gathers on Lance’s face. “Oh, I forgot there’s more than one type of ear piercing. Ummm, I don’t really know, got any suggestions?”

Katia and Keith simultaneously move in towards Lance to survey his ears, which makes him feel more exposed than he’s ever been in his entire life. As if Lance’s ears are an entirely separate entity from the rest of him, Keith tugs on his ear without thinking. 

“Your ears stick out a little bit, I never noticed that.”

Katia giggles and Lance’s face, and ears, blush like crazy. He puts his hands up to cover his ears from sight and smacks Keith’s hands away.

“Hey! No they don’t..okay they do a little...it’s not like i’m self conscious about it or anything…” Lance crosses his arms over his chest and looks away from Keith who has a stupid grin on his face. He wants to poke more fun of Lance, but doesn’t, seeing that his comment actually might have bothered his date, who he always secretly thinks is gorgeous, even with his bed head and slightly elvish looking ears. 

Katia excuses herself to go get the stuff she needs to pierce Lance’s ear. “Okay while you decide, i’m going to get the stuff ready. Your ear looks like it can handle any type of piercing so whatever you want.”

Keith decides to pick for Lance, since he didn’t get to pick his lip ring. “I think you should start with a cartilage piercing. It shouldn’t hurt too bad, and it’s cooler than just a normal piercing.” 

Lance perks up, he didn’t think Keith would give any input on the matter.

“Wait so like the one you have?”

“Well I have an industrial, but you could just get one like the outer piercing.” Keith brushes his hair up over his ear, giving Lance a clear view of the piercing that started this whole mess. There is a thick, silver bar across his ear connecting two piercings, ending with a silver ball at each end. He gets a chill up his spine just thinking about getting that done. Maybe this wasn’t one of his best ideas. He suddenly remembers he is terrified of needles.

“Didn’t that like, hurt?” Lance gulps down air, and his body is getting hot and clammy thinking about a giant needle poking through his ear. 

“No not really, I mean it hurts for a second and then it has to heal but it didn’t really bother me...Why, you getting scared Lance?”

“NO!” Lance accidentally yells way too loud, pretty much silencing the entire store. 

“You don’t have to get an ear piercing, it’s not like it’s a requirement of mine for a...boyfriend.” Oh now Keith’s playing the B-word card. The very word kicks Lance into overdrive, ripping away his inhibitions. He’s getting this goddamn piercing with his goddamn cute boyfriend if it’s the last thing he does. 

Lance strides away from Keith in record speed and plops down on the chair that Katia is standing next to. The impact of his movement startles her and she almost drops the needle she just spent five minutes getting ready. 

“I’m guessing you’ve decided what you want?”

Lance looks scared for a quick second but then represses it again.

“I’ll just get a hoop or something here.” He points a finger in the general vicinity of his upper ear. Keith finally walks over to the chair. He is completely confused, and slightly ashamed at himself for the way that his heart skips a beat when he sees Lance behave this way, completely gung ho about what he puts his mind to, even if he’s nervous on the inside. Keith can appreciate that, it’s one of the qualities in Lance that you can’t help but like, even if he goes about it in an annoying manor. This kid is unstoppable if he wants to be. 

“Ok well if you’re ready, I’m just going to clean your ear, mark it, and then you can tell me if you like the spot it will be in, and then we can start.”

Lance mumbles an almost unrecognizable ‘okay’, trying to focus on finding a calm headspace. Katia cleans off his ear with a wipe and then uses a blue marker to put a little dot in the spot where the ring will be. She hands Lance a mirror to look at it and within ten seconds he has clumsily grabbed the mirror, put it up to his face, and tossed it aside, head nodding that it’s fine, just get this over with already. Katia gets the memo and glances a quick peek at Keith who can’t help but smirk a little. He puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder and nudges it a little.

“ You sure you’re okay Lance, you look a little pale?”

“Mmmfine Keith, totally cool as a cucumber. I’m not a baby. ” Lance shrugs Keith’s hand away from his shoulder. This is all his fault anyway, with his stupid cool piercing and his stupid smirks and his stupidly cute face. 

“Okay, do you want me to count down, or just go for it?” 

“No, just go for it, I don’t want to wait that long.” 

“Okay, it will be quick don’t worry.”

“Psshh, me worry-

Lance feels the cold tip of the needle on his skin and he wants to jump out of his body into the astral plane. Instead he grabs for Keith’s hand which was resting on the side of the chair, and he squeezes the life out of it, clammy hands gripping around Keith’s cool ones. It startles Keith but he doesn’t pull away. Before Lance can even digest the pain of the needle, it’s over and Katia is setting down the torture device back on the table. He doesn’t look at Keith, doesn’t look at anything except whatever is straight ahead as he composes himself. Thank god that’s ov-

“Okay, now I need to put the hoop in. This might hurt a little bit, but just keep breathing and don’t move.” It’s not over. 

Keith rubs his thumb over Lance’s, concerned that Lance is closer to Keith’s complexion than his normal one. 

As Katia gets ready to put the hoop in Keith lowers himself down to Lance’s eye level.

“You sure you’re okay, Lance?”

The agitated tone of Lance’s voice is gone now, and a nervous tremble coats itself on his words. 

“I’m fine.” God, he’s gonna kill Keith with that look on his face.

Katia has the jewelry in her hand and lightly grabs Lance’s head to keep him still because he’s shaking like a leaf. Keith keeps talking to distract him. 

“It’s almost over…” Okay he can do better than that.

He whispers so only Lance can hear him. “I lied, piercings are a requirement for me...now at least.”

Lance’s teeth remain clenched shut but his eyes gaze over to the side at Keith and he shoots him his most alluring “smize” (thank you Tyra Banks). Keith’s about to tell him to shut up but at that moment Katia pushes the rest of the hoop in and Lance’s yelps and grips Keith’s hand like it’s a tug of war rope.

“Okay, you did it! Do you want to see? It looks really good.” At least Katia knows how to properly comfort someone, instead of making them even more emotionally flustered like Keith did. 

Still with a nervous tinge to his voice, Lance accepts and takes the mirror again, pulling it up to his face, and then grinning at his reflection. His ear is read and throbbing, and feels like it might fall off, but the silver ring hanging off of it has, in Lance’s eyes, brought him to a new level of attractiveness that he didn’t even know he was capable of. It’s like all the nerves are gone and the blood has found its way back to his face, and that melt down a couple of minutes is completely forgotten. Surely, Keith won’t forget it though. 

“Dayyumm, I look good!”Lance winks at himself in the mirror and Keith promptly confiscates it from him and puts it back on the table, out of reach of Lance. You know how in movies, a character will have a little the devil and angel resting on their shoulders, telling them to do contradicting things, having little arguments why the person is trying to decide what to do? Whenever Lance gets super cocky and annoying, Keith just likes to imagine a little Lance devil sitting on his shoulder, feeding him stupid pick up lines and insults. It’s really the only way he can refrain from wanting to punch him at any given moment. It’s been pretty fool proof so far, with a few exceptions. 

“Well, that was a fast recovery. You looked like a corpse no less than thirty seconds ago.” Keith says as he unhinges their hands and wipes Lance’s sweat off onto his pants. 

“Aww, were you worried about me Keithy?”

“Umm, I was worried I was going to have to carry your passed out ass back to the metro station.”

“So sweet of you.” Lance makes a heart symbol with his hands and walks over to the front desk to pay so he can gtfo of this place already. 

Katia gives him a paper with instructions about taking care of his earring and Lance pays. He’s gonna have to give up his Starbucks addiction for a couple weeks to make up for tonight. They walk out of the shop and the streets are now completely empty. What was once a lively college town is now breeding grounds for ghosts to show up. 

“Ughh, thank god that’s over, let’s get the fuck home.” Lance’s body expels all the energy he had left and now he’s slumped over and drained. 

“Oh my god Lance, are you telling me that you were putting on an act back there? I would have never guessed.” Keith spits back, drenching his words in all the sarcastic tone he can muster. 

“Sarcasm noted. I’m too tired now to even pretend that wasn’t traumatic as hell. This is a big moment for me Keith, i’m admitting my faults. Look what you’ve done to me! I’m losing it.” 

Keith snorts. “I didn’t even do anything. You created that entire situation for yourself, and then it bit you in the ass.”

“Uggh, I know. I remembered like halfway through that i’m deathly afraid of needles. I once kicked a nurse who was trying to give me a shot, so hard that she had to be sent downstairs to the emergency care room because she couldn’t walk.”

“Fuck. Really?”

“Yeah, I got grounded for a long time. It was bad...and I never even got the shot. I got the flu that year.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Umm, that’s not really important is it?”

“Oh my god, I bet it was last year, you dork.”

Keith shoves into Lance’s side, as he has become accustomed to when they’re annoying each other. He loops his arm around Lance’s elbow and they start to walk the empty streets back to the metro. 

“My ear feels like it has its own pulse, is that normal.”

“No, that means your ear is going to fall off.”

“Fuck you man, your bed side manners are zilch.”

Keith stands up on his toes to place a soft kiss on Lance’s cheek, and then on his jawline, resting his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. Lance shuts up after that, his heart fluttering too much to focus on bantering. They walk the rest of the way to the metro in sync for once, their strides evening out so that they don’t have to separate. When they get on the metro it is as vacant as it was that first night they rode home together. This time is different though. The quiet isn’t awkward, it’s welcomed. The rustling of the metro car is slowly rocking both of them to sleep, lulling them into a limbo state of consciousness between dreaming and being partially awake. Keith makes sure to stay awake by singing songs in his head so they don’t miss their stop. He lets Lance rest his head on his shoulder this time, his soft hair tickling Keith’s neck. The only sign that Lance isn’t completely passed out is that he’s drawing pictures on Keith’s palms again. 

They sleepily exit the metro station and walk at a glacial pace back to the dorms. When they reach Keith’s door it takes a moment for them to register that they have to let go. 

Keith finally finds words in his groggy state, “I-uhh, thanks for tonight. It was...really nice.”

A big smile creeps its way across Lance’s face. His eyes are half lidded but the bright blue of his irises are alive under the harsh lights of the dorms. 

“I had a really good time too. I told you I could romance your socks off.”

“Yeah, well i’m not sure almost passing out in a tattoo parlor slash makeshift strip club, is the pinnacle of romantic activities, but the rest was good, I suppose.”

“I’m flattered Keith. Next time is your turn though. I better be wooed to smithereens.”

“Yeah sure, whatever.”

“Alright, well I better go before I fall asleep at your doorstep. Hunk’s gonna freak out if he finds me passed out in the hallway with an ear piercing and hardly any money left in my wallet.”

Keith lets out a chuckle and then brings a hand up to cup Lance’s cheek, pulling him in for a kiss. It was just meant to be a quick goodnight kiss, but when their lips meet, it’s like their bodies are magnets being drawn in. Lance moves closer to Keith, bridging the gap between their stances, and pushes him back slightly to pin him to the door. One hand is gripping Keith’s forearm while the other entangles itself in the long pieces of raven colored hair that fall on his neck. They kiss like they might never kiss again, but it’s not sloppy or overly aggressive. Their mouths fit together perfectly like a lock and key and their noses press into each other’s cheeks. They somehow stop themselves before it becomes a full makeout session in the middle of the hallway. Lance pulls away first, his chest rising and falling rapidly, trying to catch his breath. He looks at Keith with hungry eyes, but forces himself to back away ever so slightly so that he can properly look at this beautiful boy who kisses him with as much passion as he wants to kiss back. He brings his thumb up to brush against Keith’s lips and then boops him on the nose before turning around to start walking down the hallway. 

“Night Keith.”

Keith stands, back pressed against his door, frozen for a few seconds before he can reply. 

“Night Lance.”

He stands pressed against his door for a few more minutes, he can still feel Lance’s lips against his. It’s agonizing. When he hears a door down the hallway click shut, it brings him back to reality. He slides his key through the door handle and enters his room. In one swift motion, shoes are kicked off, jacket is thrown on the floor, jeans are hopped out of, and his body is meeting the bed comforter. Sleep comes almost immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this chapter happened bc I kind of wanted to write a Tattoo shop AU, but I don't have time to work on anything else right now besides this currently. School's been busy and is probably going to get busier, so please be patient on me with the updates. I'm aiming for at least one a week.
> 
> At first, I thought I was moving this first date too fast, but then I remembered that like 80 % of Klance fics involve them being a lot more physical like seconds after confessing their feelings, so i'm not too concerned. Plus I feel like with Klance, emotionally, they have to tread on water, but physical things come a lot easier.


	15. Sundays and Spicy Lips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day following the infamous date where Lance supposedly romanced Keith’s socks off, #Klance, as Pidge decided was Keith and Lance’s ship name, becomes the only topic of conversation between the band of misfits, as they make their way through a lazy Sunday on campus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter is really just half of one chapter that I haven't finished yet (i'm sorry). It's kind of a pointless filler chapter, but I needed to write something to get back into because it's been a few weeks. I'll try to update again this week, maybe even tomorrow. 
> 
> Literally, idk what this chapter is other than it will lead to other important stuff??

Keith finds himself in some kind of twilight zone when he wakes up to his phone blowing up with texts. Most of them are from Pidge and Hunk, who made the world’s fastest shift from being hesitant about Lance going on a date with Keith, to their biggest fangirls, and some texts are from the root of the problem, Lance, who can’t keep his goddamn mouth shut, apparently. After reading through a few of the ridiculously nosy texts from Lance’s best friends, Keith abandons his phone entirely, heading into the bathroom to shower and wake up properly. When he gets out he decides to reply, in fear that his phone might actually spontaneously combust if he gets any more texts. Half sleeping, and typing, he ends up agreeing to have lunch with everyone and then go study together, without really realizing it. If he were talking to Shiro right now, he would be proud, shocked even, at the amount of social interaction Keith’s been involved in over the course of one weekend. 

It’s already mid-afternoon before he is anything remotely considered awake. Sundays were always a sluggish day, it didn’t even matter how eventful the weekend had been, they just were, and this weekend had been more draining than most. Apparently, the case is not the same for Lance, who arrives at Keith’s door around lunch-time, bright eyed and beaming a toothy smile at the fluffy haired, tired boy staring back at him from inside the dorm. Keith tilts his head sideways, gesturing for Lance to come in, and the taller boy practically leaps inside, kicking off his shoes and doing a crazy, air born somersault onto the bed. In the process he almost completely knocks off the lamp, alarm clock, and glass of water from Keith’s bedside table, but only raises his arms up above his head like a gymnast that just gave the best vault routine of their life. 

“And the gold medal goes to, Lance Sanchez. The crowd goes wild, ahhhhhh!” Lance screams in a stupid commentator voice as he wiggles his fingers and collapses onto the bed.

Keith rolls his eyes and makes his way over to the bed, promptly plopping backwards onto it and letting out a breathy chuckle. 

“You’re way too awake right now for any normal person...Oh wait…” 

“Hey, i’ll have you know, being a morning person is the best. Mix that with some caffeine and hyperactivity and you get more shit done before noon you night owls can ever achieve pulling all nighters. I was the only person that got an A+ in my calc class senior year because it was at 7:30 in the morning and everyone else was always asleep. That teacher loved me. We barely even did calc either, we’d just bring each other donuts and stuff and chat while everyone else slept. It was great.”

“Okay sure but you texted me at like 3:30 am, who are you calling a night owl?”

“Well...you got me there. I just don't sleep.”

They’re both staring at the ceiling, legs dangling off the side of the bed, knees slightly touching. It’s so quiet in the room all of the sudden that Keith starts to feel his eyes drooping lower, threatening with sleep at any minute. He feels Lance’s hand brush against his which wakes him up a little, which thank god because Lance would never let him off the hook for falling asleep in his “brilliantly refreshing” presence. Lance lets his hand linger on top of Keith’s for a few moments before sitting up and pulling Keith up with him. 

“Come on, we’re gonna be late to the pizza place, sleepy head. Pidge and Hunk are already headed out and we got a big table so we can do homework and study there.”

“Won’t they get pissed at us for using their restaurant as a makeshift library?”

Lance makes a dramatic pshh sound and waves his hand around haphazardly, almost poking out Keith’s eye a few times. “Nah. We’re regulars there. It’s the place Hunk ordered from the other night. The owners are this young couple Brad and Gina, and they basically let us do anything we want there considering we basically live off of their pizza and breadsticks. Pidge is basically 90% garlic breadstick, 10% evil genius slash pain in the ass at this point.”

Keith can’t help giggle, picturing Pidge as a giant breadstick with glasses. After the thought passes he realizes that was such a Lance thing to think about. Lance is rubbing off on him..he winces a bit, followed by a loud yawn.

“Keith, dude. You are a zombie right now. It’s like almost 1 o’clock. Get up.” Lance grabs both of Keith’s hands and pulls as hard as he can, trying to get Keith to budge off the bed. His effort is futile though, Keith is a rock.

“Fuck, Keith, why are you so heavy! Get up, up up!”

“Ugghh, but...sleep.”

Lance braces one foot on the bed frame, the other on the floor behind him for balance, and he tugs as hard as he can. “Get your...lazy...deceivingly heavy...ass...up!” At the last words, Keith comes flying off of the bed, just managing to catch himself on Lance’s shoulders before they both went crashing onto the floor.

Not missing a beat, Lance claps his hand together for a job well done, grabs Keith’s jacket hanging on the back of the door and walks out the door. Keith pouts his lips for no one to see but himself, grabs his wallet and keys, and follows Lance, again.

The rest of the lazy Sunday is spent mostly at the pizza place. When Lance and Keith get there, Pidge and Hunk are already seated at a table, a few books piled to the corner, and a basket of breadsticks, or what once was a basket of breadsticks, sitting in between them. When Lance comes in the door first, arm held behind him and hand intertwined with Keith’s, there is a chorus of wolf whistles and snarky remarks from the two breadstick thieves. Keith withdraws his hand immediately, but soon finds it comfortably in Lance’s grasp again under the table when they sit down. This was all so new to him, and foreign, that he frequently got self conscious about how touchy feely Lance was with him all the time. But whenever he withdraws, Lance gives him a reassuring smile, reserved only for him to see, to tell him it’s okay and he understands, which makes Keith’s heart melt a little. Even when Keith had to move Lance a little bit out of his bubble, their hands almost always seemed to gravitate back towards each other's. It was like a tether. Lance's hand felt warm in Keith's, and like home, and home never feels uncomfortable.

They order several pizzas, two more baskets of breadsticks, which prompts a fiery conversation about starting a Bread Lover’s anonymous group for Pidge’s addiction, and a couple liters of mountain dew, to fuel their study session for the afternoon. By his fifth glass of soda, Lance is practically bouncing off the walls and has somehow plowed through ten chapters of his astronomy book, most of which haven’t even been assigned yet. In between studying, there’s lots of questions about the date and how they ended up going from a nice dinner to a tattoo parlor filled with drunk bridesmaids and strippers. It gets to a point where the books are forgotten and the entire restaurant is filled with the vibrant sound of Lance’s voice telling the story. Keith sinks lower in his chair as the story of the night progresses, hoping other diners won’t see him and immediately connect Lance’s story with the two of them. Pidge and Hunk snicker seeing the dynamic between their best friend and his new infatuation, who is literally dying embarrassment, partially unbeknownst to Lance. They might not know Keith very well, or what really happened on the date outside of Lance's version of storytelling, but they know Lance, and he’s in deep with Keith for sure. 

It’s a perfectly odd, but good, Sunday in the end. They finally leave the pizza parlor after Lance challenges Keith to a habanero eating contest, as the restaurant owners are known to have a collection of spicy peppers, and they both end up losing in the end because they have to walk home drooling and sweating and drenched in the water that Lance poured over himself (and Keith) to cool down. Chatter on the way back to the dorms is a lot of Pidge snickering and Keith and Lance bickering undecipherable things at each other, their mouths on fire from the inhuman amount of peppers they consumed.”

“Nu-uuh Keef, I won! I athe mwor than you”

“Shuth up, you thound sthupid!”

“Tho do you!”

“D’You wanna go?”

“Fuck,Thyeah...tho your bedroom.”

Hunk finally cuts in, seeing that Keith's face has gone more flushed than it was when they were eating the peppers, putting an arm around each of their shoulders, “Alright, on that note, Pidge and I are outta here. Behave.”

Hunk walks ahead of them and Pidge follows, turning back really quick to yell so other people on the mall can hear, “ You know, if you make out too much like that, your pretty faces are gonna regret it!"

Lance looks Keith straight in the eyes with an expression of pure determination. 

“Bet you I can kiss your habaneroey face longer than you, without stopping or getting water.”

“Fuckin’ prove it.”

~About a week later~

Classes kick into overdrive the second the drop/add period ends, which means students in competitive programs, start to see more of their professors and books and cans of energy drinks, than anything else. It’s been back to back late nights doing homework, working on group projects and eating dinner inside dorm rooms for the past week and even in moments of free time, a nap is about the only thing that anyone seems capable of doing. 

Lance finds this process downright disrespectful. Doesn’t any of his professors know that he has a strict beauty regimen and a moody,unfairly hot, maybe boyfriend (they still haven’t officially DTRed after the tattoo shop incident, much to Lance’s dismay) to attend to? It’s incorrigible, the lack of respect around this campus. Sure, he sees his friends in class, but it’s not the same. Even in the two classes where he has Keith all to himself, his teachers made it impossible for them to interact. Coran finally separated them when he found a balled up piece of paper in the back of his class that featured an actually quite well drawn(but that’s besides the point), mystery noir comic featuring him and his moustache as the lead characters, with a note and a huge signature at the bottom that read,

“Keith, even though you didn’t read the first 17 installments, this one is pure gold, I promise.” - XO, Lance 

P.S: Let me know what you think of the pacing and character development. I don’t want the relationship between Coran and his moustache to seem too, contrived, you know?

Allura had also put the two in separate groups for now in their team building class after the horrible grade they got on the first assignment. Little did she know, several things had changed since then, but even when Lance begged to be put back in a group with Keith, she refused to change it until midterms. 

\----

Keith enjoys being back in the swing of routine. In general, he actually likes studying and going to classes. The regimen is calming to him, a normalizer to his thoughts that go rapid fire most of the time. The timing was kind of horrible, him just getting into his first relationship of sorts, and trying to make and be a friend, and trying to find the courage to reach out to his old friend. He’s barely seen Lance in the past few days, save for a couple minutes here and there when they eat together or have an impromptu makeout session in between classes because they are horny, teenage boys with little self control. He might not see Lance as often as that first couple weeks of the semester, but that certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t hear from him, 24/7, nonstop, Lance. The boy can text.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have a big idea of where this fic is going, I just need to get there, so i'm trying to figure out pacing and stuff. I want there to be a good mix of quiet, stupid moments, and more plot heavy moments. This would have been a lot easier if I planned out an actual, good story, from the beginning like most people, but alas...
> 
> See you soon!


	16. How to Get Away with Murder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of last chapter. I'll let you figure out the chapter title on your own. Don't get too excited though, it's really not that clever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I just saw this morning that this has 2016 hits (which is odd)! Thank you to everyone has read and commented and kudos(ed?) etc. It means a lot to me, this being my first fic and stuff. It's been fun so far. The story still has a little ways to go and i'm trying to update as often as I can. Anything for Keith and Lance right? Klance is eating me alive.
> 
>  

27 texts, 5 missed calls, and 3 obnoxiously long voicemails that Keith doesn’t have the heart to delete without listening to, and he is on the brink of tossing his phone into the nearest fountain at the next available opportunity. It’s not even 11 am and life’s being, well, being what it’s best at, sucky, with a side of demanding and unashamedly apathetic for the people, Keith, currently trying to live it in one piece. He can barely keep his eyes open as he sulks down the hallways and out of the physics building where him and his lab partner have been struggling through a hellish lab worksheet together for the last two hours. Looking down at his appearance, tangled hair hair tied up in a sad excuse for a bun, mismatched red and black converse, baggy joggers and way too big t-shirt that he is sporting this morning, Keith wonders how he honestly even managed to get out the dorm and successfully find his lab partner without his body coercing him into trying to find a place to nap on a bench somewhere. He can blame the tiredness on Lance this time, who wouldn’t stop texting him until the early hours of the morning, rambling on and on about whatever Lance thinks about in the middle of the night. His bedhead and dark under eye circles can certainly attest to the fatigue. It’s obviously not just his astonishingly loquacious, significant annoyance that’s the root of all problems. The papers, labs, stress, boring adult responsibilities, the list goes on and on, definitely don’t lend themselves to well rested, happy, healthy, cheery, stylish Keiths, almost nothing does in fact. But it’s the 28th text message ding heard from his back pocket that brings Keith over the edge, shifting all of the blame to the most prominent source of his current exasperation, the only person on the planet who is wide awake seemingly every second of the day, the polar opposite of Keith, his boyfriend.

\----

Keith finds himself back at the dorms, knocking away on the door a few rooms down the hall from his.

“Hunk? It’s Keith. Are you in there? I need to...um I need to talk to you about something.”

The door to Hunk and Lance’s room quietly opens almost immediately, revealing a new form of Hunk that Keith has yet to see, one who’s listless appearance could give Keith’s a run for his money, yawning, dressed in baggy sweats and a university sweatshirt, and questioning all of his life choices until now. The typical state of being for a devoted engineering student.

“Hey Keith. Somethin’ wrong?”

“No, well, kinda, but not really.”

A confused Hunk scuttles Keith into the room and hands him an empty mug and a chocolate muffin from the box of them sitting on his desk.

“Here, you look like you need coffee too.”

He continues to fill the mug from a pot of freshly brewed, sweet smelling coffee, offering sugar or cream, to which Keith kindly declines. If Lance found out he only drinks black coffee, it’d probably result in some kind of stupid remark about it being black like Keith’s emo soul or something, and then Lance would challenge him to drink the most sugary concoction he could find at Starbucks, and Keith being a hopelessly competitive dumbass, would accept the challenge.

“So what’s up Keith?” Hunk says, clearing some of the books off his bed and sitting down.

“Umm, well, it’s about Lance, actually. He’s not coming back anytime soon is he?”

“Oh no, we have a while , he’s at th-...he’s uhh, doing something right now.”

Hunk gives off a weird, awkward smile to Keith, but he ignores it for now, there are more pressing issues.

“Oh, okay good. Listen, I know this might sound weird, considering...well, you see-” Keith’s phone goes off again and he rips it out of his pocket, hoping to just show Hunk the problem instead of struggling to talk about it, but sees that it was actually just an email alert.

It doesn’t take Hunk playing Sherlock Holmes to see exactly what the issue is.

“Keith?”

Keith looks up from his phone, tearing himself away from the internal monologue going off in his head.

“Huh? Oh yeah, sorry.”

“Let me guess. Lance is being aggressively clingy to you and won’t leave you alone, but it’s also sweet in that only Lance way, and you don’t know what to do about it without hurting his feelings or ruining whatever it is that you guys are? Which, that’s a whole other topic of conversation, for another time by the way.”

Keith looks up at Hunk, completely dumbfounded, and then let’s out a massive breath of air.

“Ughh, Hunk, what do I do? You’re his best friend! You’ve gotta have some insight!”

Hunk almost giggles at the sight of Keith, sneaking over to grovel for the secrets to figuring out Lance that only a best friend could supply. Just a couple of weeks ago, he wouldn’t have expected to see Keith in their room again even if the apocalypse was happening and room number 527 was the only zombie proof zone in site.

“I’m sorry man, but there’s really only one way to deal with this. You gotta tell him to back off a little. He won’t know to take it down a notch, otherwise. Lance has tunnel vision when it comes to these things, it takes more than passive aggressive remarks to snap him out of it.”

“I was afraid you were gonna say that.”

“Don’t worry about it Keith. He won’t be that upset or anything. I’m not saying he won’t make a fuss about it, it’s Lance after all. But if you just tell him exactly what you feel, he’s actually a pretty understanding guy.”

“Oh, I know. Believe me. That’s why I feel like shit about talking to him about it. It’s not really his fault, it’s more of mine. But, I can’t handle the constant attention 24/7, it’s driving me crazy. It’s every second of the goddamn day.”

“Nah, don’t feel bad. Lance is super extra about social interaction and stuff sometimes. He barely realizes he’s doing it. I used to get at least 40 or 50 texts a day from him back in the day, mostly just him ranting about things, complaining, using me as his personal magic 8 ball. ‘Hunk, should I have a sandwich for lunch?,’ ‘should I confess my love to this girl that rejected me three times, again?’ ‘should I buy dye my hair blue?’ God it gets so freakin’ annoying. Right? ”

“Um...Are you sure you don’t need to talk to him too?” Keith thinks maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to spill out all his problems on Hunk, the poor guy is losing it.

“Oh, whoops, sorry, I went on a little rage tangent. When you’re friends with someone this long, things tend to pile up. My point is, that it is annoying, but it’s also innocent, and it’s Lance, so I put up with it, and take it for the good and the occasional bad. We’re down to about twenty texts a day now, which was a long way coming.”

“ Wow... uggh, this seems hopeless. It probably took you five years to get it down to twenty, and I don’t even text people that many times a month, usually. Maybe you can just tell him.”

“Nope. Not happening. I’ve got my own Lance problems to deal with. Like the fact that he won’t shut up about you, for example. Sorry, by the way. I know more about your relationship then you probably do. I’m like his personal diary.”

Keith's cheeks go all shades of pink, which he tries to hide behind the blue and silver coffee mug that resembles R2D2.

“ I guess I should be apologizing to you then, huh?”

Hunk chuckles and take a big bite of muffin.

“You ask him what we talked about, and I’ll ask him to spare me the gory details about his love life so I can continue to look at you without wanting to throw up. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Keith hops up off the blue bean bag he had made his home over the last twenty minutes, setting down his finished coffee mug back on the desk, and turns to give Hunk a quick wave goodbye and thanks. He already feels a little less heavy in the chest about talking to Lance. Hunk has a calming air to him that makes you believe what he says, and to trust that everything will be okay. He’s similar to Lance in that matter. It’s no wonder really why they are so close.

Hunk chucks a clean ball of socks at his back to stop him. "Uh, yeah?" "I do have a secret weapon for dealing with sad puppy Lance that has to do with his weakness for a certain author."

Keith snags his phone out of his pocket again, looking for any new texts, but it doesn’t seem like Lance has sent any for the last hour. He punches in an invitation for Lance to eat dinner with him in his dorm tonight, and hopes things work out okay. He turns back to Hunk.

"I'm listening."

 

The rest of the day goes by a lot faster than that morning. Allura sent an email that class was cancelled for the afternoon, on the account of some kind of business convention that her and the professor would be attending. That meant that Keith had a few more hours get some homework done, clean up his room a little more, and go get Chinese food for dinner before Lance comes over. It’s kind of silly considering they only live down the hall; Lance can technically pop over any time he wants. But even though he incessantly texts and chats with Keith, he doesn’t like to show up to his dorm unannounced. There is some unspoken understanding between the two of them that it means something more to get invited over, than to just walk in any time. On occasion they’ll just sort of end up in the other’s room, Keith collapsing on the blue bean bag after a long day of class, Lance crashing Keith’s dorm to wake him up for “breakfast”, Pidge pushing them into Keith’s room and locking them in the closet together to play seven minutes in heaven, for way longer than seven minutes, and then forgetting to let them out.

At 6 ish, Lance shows up with an armful of miscellaneous things from his dorm: a jug of bright blue Hawaiian punch, a fluffy blue blanket (because Keith’s aren’t soft enough for picky his taste), some DVDs, and his backpack filled with an undisclosed amount of candy, and comic books that he’s been trying to get Keith to read.

“Oh, Keeee-yyy-th! Guess what I brought for you?”

Keith throws the last of his clothes that he was just getting around to putting away, into the closet, and opens the door. Lance barely lets the door open fully before traipsing in and discarding all of his “luggage” onto Keith’s desk, burying the half done homework under the mound. He’s wearing a navy blue thermal shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a dark blue pair of jeans that cling to, pretty much everything. His discarded shoes, which are already kicked up next to the door, as usual, reveal that Lance is wearing a pair of fuzzy, turquoise socks that look like something the cookie monster would have shed if it got too hot out.

“I hope whatever you brought makes up for having to look at those hideous socks.”

“Oh, mon chéri, préparez-vous à être étonné.”

“What the hell was that? Spanish, Italian, and now French. Are you some kind of wizard?-wait don’t answer that.”

Lance just sticks out his tongue and shoves his hand into his backpack, rummaging around in the biggest pocket as if it’s an infinite well, and pulls out a giant ziploc bag of his homemade oatmeal raisin cookies, and two socks that look identical to the ones on his feet, only bright red.

“Oh, fuck no, i’m not wearing those.”

“Oh yes, you are! Come on, it’s like wearing a giant fluffy cloud, on your feet. It’s amazing, otherworldly, transcendental. Matching socks Keith, so cute.” At Keith’s look of utter unamused and a hint of terror, Lance takes it as the ultimate challenge. He flashes him his most mischievous grin and cocks one eyebrow as high as it will go, signaling the start of a battle.

“Lance...hand over the cookies, and put the socks down where I can see them. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

The taller boy only closes in further on Keith, who’s slowly backing towards the bed. Some kind of weird battle cry exits Lance’s mouth and then Keith is pushed and being held down onto the bed, Lance pinning his arms with one hand, and trying to capture Keith’s right foot with the other.

“Just surrender Keith! You’re resistance is futile. Give your body to the magic of the socks, and you can have all the cookies you desire.”

“Over...my...dead….body.”

Keith is trying every method possible to toss Lance off of him, but every time he gets close, the taller boy finds a way to pin him down again. He’s sure if his old Tae Kwon Do team every saw this, they’d strip him of every belt he ever earned. He’s pretty rusty, but still, this is just embarrassing.

“I didn’t want to have to resort to this Keith, but if you don’t let me put these socks on you, I’m going to have to tickle you, and you don’t want that. I am known to be the boss of tickle monsters. I have a lot of little siblings, Keith, a lot.”

“Oh, shit.”

It doesn’t take but a few seconds for Lance to tickle Keith into a squirming mess, finding that he is basically the most ticklish person in existence.

“Okay, okay Lance, i’ll wear the socks, just stop, please.”

“What was that Keith? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of torture.” His fingers find their way up the hem of Keith’s shirt, tracing every inch of his torso and chest with delicate fingers that might as well be knives.

“Put the goddamn socks on, Lance!” His fingers stop immediately, drawing his shirt back down and cupping Keith’s bright red face.

“Sure thing babe, you should have just asked sooner.”

Lance hops off of Keith and strips him of his boring white socks, replacing each with a fuzzy red one. Keith catches his breath for a second, trying to decide if he’s dying, or secretly enjoying it, or both. Then he realizes that Lance just called him babe, like it was no big deal, like it happened all the time. Yep, he’s dead.

After the socks are on, in all their god awfully ugly glory, Lance settles down onto the bed next to Keith. It’s silent until Keith hears the sound of a ziploc bag being peeled open.

“Cookie?”

Keith rolls to his side and snatches the other boy’s cookie occupied hand in his own, giving him a face melting glare.

“You ever try tickling me again, we’re so done.”

Lane looks terrified for a moment before both of them burst into laughter. At one point Lance rolls down the side of the bed onto the floor and lands on the floor.

They recover for a minute before ripping into the boxes of Chinese food that Keith had ordered at a recommendation from Hunk and Pidge. They go back and forth stealing each other’s food with chopsticks and trying to guess the other’s cookie fortune. Lance tries to attempt the lady and the tramp spaghetti scene with chow mein noodles, but it ends up with a bit lip and a sauce stain on the carpet that no one will be able to get out.

Every time there’s a short lull in the conversation, Keith considers bringing up the dreaded topic he’s been avoiding all evening. He psychs himself up to just let it out, but then Lance will do something like flash him one of those unfairly pretty smiles, or pick up his hand and write something between the lines of his palms.

It’s not until Keith is starting to fall asleep seated against the side of his bed with Lance up on the bed, sitting right behind him, running a brush through his hair that he dug out of his endless backpack, that Keith realizes it’s now or never.

He turns around slightly to face the boy twirling gentle fingers through the long pieces of hair against his neck. Ocean blue eyes are drooping shut with each blink, but as vast and sparkling as ever, taking in the soft glow of the fairy lights that Lance had hung up on Keith’s window earlier that evening. He looks calm enough that he could fall asleep too if Keith let him.

Looking around at the room, and the way it is teeming with little trinkets and pieces of Lance’s, it makes it hard to remember why Keith was annoyed at him, in this very moment.

“You know, you have a habit of making yourself at home everywhere.” Keith says, gesturing to the lights, the fuzzy blue blankets surrounding his bed, the spread of his things all over the floor.

Lance chuckles quietly, his voice hoarse from not talking for a little while.

“Sorry, you can take it down if you want, my mama says the same thing.”

“No, it’s nice. I like the lights. My room’s pretty boring anyways.”

It’s quiet again for a few moments, Keith’s mind going back and forth about whether to bring up what he wanted to. It seems almost silly now, like it was never really a problem to begin with.

“Keith?”

“Huh?”

“You okay? You seem kinda, I don’t know, checked out. I’m supposed to be the one doing the checking out.”

“That was horrible.”

“I know. But you’re avoiding the question.”

“It’s nothing, really, i’m fine. Just tired.”

“Is it about whatever you talked to Hunk about earlier?”

Lance slides out from behind Keith, stepping over him and moving to sit at his side so that their shoulders are brushing and their feet playfully bat each other away every time Lance nervously shakes his leg.

“He told you?!”

“He didn’t tell me what it was about but he said you popped by for a second. He’s not the best at keeping secrets from me, you should know. I almost got it out of him but he ran into Pidge’s room at the last second.”

“Oh...i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak behind your back or anything.”

“It’s cool, Hunk’s your friend too. He’s easy to talk to.” “So...what was it about.”

Keith keeps his gaze locked onto the wall in front of him, his eyes tracing the cracks between the white painted cinder blocks of the wall. Maybe if he just avoids eye contact, he can disappear or something.

“Keith. I see what you’re doing. I’m not always oblivious. You can’t pretend i’m not here and hope to just beam out of the room like in Star trek, so you better just tell me what’s wrong.”

Keith sighs and cradles his face in his sweaty hands before turning to Lance and accepting the invitation to talk that's radiating from from his big, blue eyes.

“Okay, i’m just going to say this, and then you can be mad at me or whatever. I went to talk to Hunk because I was going a little crazy from how much you text and call and do revoltingly sweet things for me. And i’m really sorry, I want to not be annoyed by it, it really is sweet, but i’m just new to all this and the attention, for some reason, is overwhelming. I almost chucked my phone into the duck fountain on the mall today. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But it’s not your fault, I don’t think. If that helps at all.” The last of the words sit sour on his tongue. He can’t remember what he even just said, if any of it made sense, whether or not his words will betray him once again.

But Lance doesn’t look mad, or upset. In fact, the slightest smile creeps his way onto his expression when he grabs Keith’s hands in his and holds them tight.

“Keith?”

“Yes?”

“I’m not mad...or whatever.”

“You’re not?”

“No” He turns a little so he can get a better look at the darker haired boy.

“Ugggh. Fuck. I can’t believe i’m saying this, but I think it is my fault. People always tell me i’m clingy but I usually just brush it off, cause I mean, how could you get enough of this, right?” He laughs at himself in a self diminishing kind of way and then continues, Keith is completely silent, but giving his full attention.

“You can probably tell, I don't have much of a filter...especially not with someone I want to get to know. I’ll try to back off, as much as I can. That is, if you still want to go out, or whatever. To be honest, I think my brain likes to make me a ticking time bomb for annoying people. It’s like programmed in me. Set phasers to maximum levels of annoyance--beep--boop.”

No response.

“Keith? Are you gonna say anything. Come on, I’m dying here. Admitting my faults is like my achilles heel. And talking about myself. It's burning me alive. Oh no, it’s too late Keith! I’m on the brink of destruction...internal failure, cariño… my last breaths.” He collapses over Keith’s lap in what has to be his fifth or sixth faked death since Keith met him.

“Keith, speak. I only have but minutes, no seconds, left to live if I don’t hear your brooding voice again. At least give me one last kiss.” He lets his head fall to the side, sticking out his tongue and rolling his eyes back.

Keith breaks out of his silence in a rapid burst into laughter. Why does he like this idiot again?

“Oh my god, you’re such a fucking dork! Why are you like this?” Why is it so cute though? “ Too bad you’re already dead, or else I might have said something really out of character and nice to you to make up for things.”

The body on top of him remains completely silent and still, save for a hand that nudges its way out from under, and points a single finger to pink lips. It’s so cheesy, but Keith takes the bait and leans down to place a chaste kiss to the cheese-ball’s lips. The kiss tastes like blue Hawaiian punch, overwhelmingly sweet at first, and then just fruity, and then just like Lance. When he lifts up from the kiss, blue eyes are locked with his his, and they exchange soft smiles that let them know everything is okay. It just makes sense to Keith. No words, no coded language, just a smile. And he tries to give one back to say the same thing.

“Thanks for saving me, Snow White.”

“Think you still got it wrong...and that would make you a prince charming.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

 

They lay in peaceful quiet for an indeterminable amount of time, feeding each other little pieces of cookie. More like Lance picking out raisins from the cookies and feeding them to Keith and Keith making a little pile of crumbs in the hood of Lance's sweatshirt that lays around his head.  

"Hey."

"Yes, Keithy."

Keith starts fidgeting around in his pockets for something he forgot about, pulling out a crinkled piece of notebook paper and holding it in the air away from Lance's field of vision.

"Ooh, is that a secret love note?"

"Do I look like I write secret love letters to you? I'm not, well you."  "But, your not completely wrong."

"So it is a love note, babe that's so precious."

"Hunk gave me a secret weapon in case I was too, 'insensitive' and hurt your feelings."

"Oh, well you did." Lance gives him a serious face, but manages about five seconds before giggling.

"Lance, you scared me!"

"Sorry, it was just too easy. I am a delicate butterfly though Keith."

"Heartless, hole eating moth more like it."

"Nah, that's you."

"I'll just put this away then, if that's how you feel." He starts to ball up the paper and throw it away before Lance grabs his wrist.

"No, please, Keith, i'm sorry you are a cornucopia of only fuzzy feelings, an absolute delight, a sweet treat,  flourishing garden of tropical orchids-"

"Oh, my god stop my ears."

"Just read the damn note, will you."

Keith hands him the paper instead to read and promptly covers his face with his hands.

 

**“You're always you, and that don't change, and you're always changing, and there's nothing you can do about it.”**

It's a quote from, what do you know a Gaiman book, Lance's absolute favorite. Lance is at a loss for words. Did Keith remember him quoting Stardust all those weeks ago. 

"Don't get all worked up, Hunk helped me find it. He may have divulged that your an actual complete nerd about book quotes, which I should have remembered after that first night."

Lance doesn't say anything right away, he just tackles Keith and breathes into his chest, squeezing the life out of him. 

"Oh god i'm gonna die. You're just as much as a sap as me, you big emo!" 

 

Lance leaves a little while after, gathering all of his stuff into his backpack, and leaving his favorite blanket with Keith, who fell asleep while they were watching a show on Lance’s laptop.

The next morning Keith receives one, and only one, text from Lance.

From:Lance

Hey! I have a blueberry bagel with your name on it down at the cafe. That is, if you want it of course. You don’t have to accept all of my fabulous gifts.

To:Lance

I mean, I didn’t say you had to stop doing nice things for me. You just don’t need to detail the entire process of getting said nice thing, in a three paragraph essay form. I’ll be down in five.

From: Lance

The terms of the game change when Lance has free food. Not sure you’d be running down here that fast for freshly picked flowers. Maybe I am just a sugar daddy to you!

From Lance: What do I get for bringing something better than a bagel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have a chapter with #Klance sorting their problems out for the first time in an adult fashion. I headcanon that Keith would have a lot of trouble/confusion trying to deal with Lance's clinginess/sweet gestures. He knows he's supposed to like it more, but Lane is over the top in his business 24/7. They both have issues. They're like 'How do I even relationship?'
> 
> quote is from The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman. I wanted some of his quotes to become a part of the story because his books mean a lot to me.


	17. Demolition Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith can be a little more romantic than others might think... and Lance's body isn't ready for it
> 
> I just wanted to name this chapter after an MCR song, okay? Okay. it's irrelevant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning is just a snippet of Halloween crapola that I wrote about a week ago, because I didn't have time to write a full chapter.
> 
> I basically wrote this whole thing today because a very nice commenter told me that they missed my fic updates and it made motivated me to write some, so thank you (you probably know who you are maybe, lol)

“Oh man, that was the best Halloween yet! I don’t even know what was the best part, Pidge ripping that frat guy’s toga off, or Keith accidentally punching that zombie that popped out of the bushes. He was so fucking pissed, man, I never would have thought you could run that fast.” Lance wipes a tear from the corner of his eye as he recounts the events of last night’s spooky, drunken shenanigans. His voice is practically reverberating off the walls of the small off campus coffee shop they’re sitting in, the third of places they have attempted to eat at today, and the first one that Lance isn’t banned from for obvious reasons to anyone but Lance.

 

“He came out of nowhere, it startled me.” Keith tries his hardest to maintain a scowl. He should be irritated. He’s hungover, tired, and his hand is embarrassingly swollen from punching a zombie frat boy that looked like he could have moonlighted as one the tank heroes from all the stupid video games Keith’s been playing lately. Unfortunately for his brooding reputation, he’s finding it a lot harder to keep the smiles from escaping his lips the past few weeks.

 

“Keith, babe, it’s okay to be scared sometimes. I’m here to protect you.” Keith scoffs and punches his flexing boyfriend in the shoulder a little harder than is probably considered a love-tap, but it doesn’t really have the effect he was hoping for. 

 

“Pretty sure Sir Lancelot over here was hiding behind Hunk the whole time, though.” Pidge mumbles from their curled up position on one of the coffee shop’s colorful couches.  
Hunk chimes in with a faintly heard agreement, more interested in the gooey cinnamon roll that’s sitting on the table in front of him.

 

“Hunk! How can you agree with that little gremlin?! I was about to go beat that guy up myself the second I saw him take his nasty fake teeth out, but Keith here was basically already across town so…” 

 

“Sounds fake but okay. As much as I love pissing off jerky frat guys, I think it’s safe to say that the best part was you two getting reamed out by that grandma in the corn maze cuz Lance can’t keep it in his pants and probably scarred those children for the rest of their lives.” Pidge sits up a little from the couch, making kissy faces and stealing the rest of Lance’s pumpkin muffin from his plate. 

 

“Oh my god Pidge, we’ve gone over this like ten times. We were just kissing, it was barely even a peck and that grandma was totally uncalled for. It was so PG, right Keith?!”

 

“I’m staying out of this. But it was at least PG-13.”

 

“Keith! Betrayed once again! Why am I friends with all of you again?”

 

“Pretty sure every BINGO hall and kindergarten class in the area knows why your friends with Keith.” Pidge says with a mischievous grin while making a crude hand gesture behind the shops menu. 

 

The conversation doesn’t need to escalate very long before Lance finds himself banned from the last good coffee shop near campus and a very sad Hunk is savoring the final bite of their famous gooey cinnamon rolls because this time Lance brought the whole crew down with him. 

 

“I hope you know you’re buying us overpriced Starbucks from now until the end of the year, Lance.”

 

“Whatever.”  
~

 

It’s the onslaught of autumn and a lack of the things that make autumn his favorite time of year, that makes Keith blatantly aware that he is in California, and not on the East Coast, and nowhere that he could he even remotely consider home. It’s a weird revelation, one that makes him uneasy and distant. He had never even considered having a real place he considered home until something felt missing. But something about the plastic feeling he gets from the small California pop-up town that the University is nestled into makes him miss the cool Vermont air, the flecks of copper and reds that would be trimming the edges of crisp leaves at this point, the smell of people’s chimneys coating the air, even better, the real campfires that devour your gaze on a cool autumn night. Keith can remember countless nights, having escaped the emptiness of his foster homes to camp out under the stars, letting a glistening fire paint his eyelids with yellow and orange kaleidoscopes and sooth the coldness from his body. He likes this town well enough, even more, he likes the people that make it feel more like a home than any of the “homes” that a piece of paper claimed were his. It makes him feel guilty, being homesick over something so replaceable. He should be more like the other students that seem to be totally fine being brainwashed that it’s fall in California, as if some omnipresent force is whispering in everyone’s ears to throw away their troubles and replace them with ugly sweaters and pumpkin flavored everything. Who cares if you’re sweating through your wool turtleneck, it’s fall, so it’s worth it.  
Keith was trying to keep it together, trying to be as pleasant as possible, because frankly, he had really used up his asshole allowance for the month already, and his newly found friends, especially Lance, didn’t deserve any more of his melodramatic antics. Lance has enough drama factor to disperse through them all. So he tries his best to choke down the feelings, only letting them affect him during the late hours the night. He blames any dissonance in his temperament on being tired, which was essentially true. Basically, he wasn’t sleeping anymore between the unfamiliar homesickness that was taking a toll, and the highly contrasting fuzzy feelings that emanated from spending time with his boyfriend, er, they still hadn’t really talked about that label yet.  
It’s the third day of his funk, waking up from a frenzy of unpleasant dreams and restless, sweaty sleep, that something changes. Keith slaps a hand over to his nightstand, grabbing his phone to check the time, and sees the good morning text that seems to grace his phone more and more often recently. He can’t argue that it’s not the worst thing he could see first every day. He blinks his tired eyes a few times and roll over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his pillow to flip through the messages.  
-  
From: Lance 9:12 am

 

Morning babe <3 Hope you finally got some sleep. Wanna go grab some coffee? Pumpkin flavored anything on me!  
-  
Of course, how could Keith not realize? If there really is a pumpkin spice cult, Lance is probably the most devout follower. But it’s not even that ridiculous concept that has Keith smiling as much as his tired face has the capacity to smile.  
.  
He half-blindedly replies

 

To: Lance 9:37 am

 

Morning Lance :) Just got up, sorry. Yeah sure, let me get dressed. 

 

He rolls off the bed and right into the shower, quickly rinsing off and throwing on whatever he grabs from his closet, which is some black joggers, a dark red hoodie, and his black running shoes that haven’t really had much use this semester. His phone buzzes while he’s trying to dry off his hair, making it a fluffy mess. It might not be that cold outside, but it’s cold enough not to want dripping wet hair. He gives up when it’s half dry and looks at the message.

 

From: Lance

 

No need to be sorry, you need sleep :) Just come over when you’re ready, no rush <3

 

Keith’s cheeks warm up at the message and he blushes into the collar of his hoodie, as if even the posters on his wall were judging him for swooning. He almost completely forgets the horrible night he had, grabbing his stuff and throwing it into his pockets, and walking over to Lance and Hunk’s dorm. 

 

Lance must have some kind of Keith related sixth sense, because as usual, the door opens almost immediately after the first knock. 

 

“Hey, babe!” Keith is engulfed in a hug and a splattering of soft kisses and pulled from the hallway into the cozy hearth that is room 527. 

 

“Eww, it’s too early for all that.” Hunk appears at the corner of Keith’s eye, sitting at his desk, eating a big bowl of some rainbow colored cereal. The soft smile on his face directed at his best friend can ascertain that there is hardly any bite to his bark.

 

“ Yeah sure Hunk, but just know, I won’t be saying that when you and Shay are are being all cuddly.”

 

“Lance, shut up!”

 

“Who’s Shay?” Keith mumbles from the soft fabric of Lance’s t shirt as he tries to pry the boy off of him a little bit.

 

Lance finally let’s go a little bit, throwing his arms around Keith’s waist instead. 

 

“Oh, who’s Shay you might ask. Only this girl in Hunk’s Calc class that he totally has the hots for.” He wiggles his eyebrows to add fire to the flame.

 

“I do not, Lance!”

 

“Wait, i’m in Hunk’s Calc class though. How have I never-...oh is it that girl with the short brown hair that always passes out the quizzes and chats with us?” Keith’s now picturing the girl and all of the times she has spent a little too long at the desk, handing Hunk his quizzes. She has short, dark brown hair that’s cut into an asymmetric bob. She seems pretty tall, maybe even almost as tall as Keith honestly, and she’s always wearing some kind of retro, odd outfits that only she could really look cool in. He can see why Hunk would have a thing for her. Keith may or may not have skipped class the past couple of days, so maybe something happened in the time.

 

Lance howls into a fit off laughter far too loud for a Saturday morning when he sees Hunk’s cheeks go three shades pinker. 

 

“Yeah that’s totally her. See Hunk, even Keith saw it coming! Oh man, this is the best. We can go on double dates and everything.”

 

Both Hunk and Keith simultaneously slap a hand over Lance’s mouth and Lance pouts when they let go.

 

He’s still rambling about how it would be fun while Keith is pushing him out of the dorm, waving an apologetic goodbye to Hunk. On the way down the hallway they run into Pidge, stumbling and balancing three cups of coffee on a tray in one hand, while the other hand is wildly typing on their phone.

 

“Don’t ask, too busy.” They mumble and walk away before either of the boys can say anything.

 

When they finally get to the coffee store, which they had to go way off campus for, it is miraculously quiet. Maybe everyone slept in today, which honestly isn’t a bad idea considering how Midterms pretty much beat everyone’s asses the past two weeks. 

 

They scope out a booth and throw their jackets on it to claim the seats. 

 

“Sit down, i’ll order for us.” Lance walks away before Keith can argue and he plops down in the booth, eyes tracing over the details of the cafe before falling back onto Lance who’s peering into the display case of sweets at the counter. Keith knows he’s staring like a lovesick dweeb, but Lance is cutest in the morning when he’s the brightest light in the place, but then again, he’s usually always the brightest light. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation, or the homesickness, but lately Keith finds himself daydreaming over the blue eyed boy a lot more than before. It’s really hard to impress Keith, he can see through the layers of fakeness in everything almost immediately. Lance is weird because he purposely has some layers of fakeness that he sports in public most of the time. The problem is that the layers underneath are so real, it confuses Keith. He wonders if Lance knows that he is as much of an enigma to Keith as Keith probably is to him. Before he knows it, Lance is standing in front of him holding a drink that’s positively laced with enough cinnamon and sugar and pumpkin to sustain the entire University’s catalogue of, what was it he called them, basic bitches? Keith laughed for a solid five minutes when he first heard that term, because by definition, Lance would definitely be one. 

 

Keith is spacing out and doesn’t notice Lance sitting down and putting the spread out on the table. 

 

“Keith? Earth to Keith, are you okay?” Lance waves some kind of pastry in front of Keith’s face until the dazed boy finally notices him. 

 

“Oh, sorry, what did you say”

 

“I just asked if you’re okay. You spaced out and had a weird face.” He reaches over the table and grabs Keith’s hand, giving him a smile that’s usually only reserved for when they’re alone. 

 

He shouldn’t have done that because it’s that smile that makes Keith question everything he knows. It’s that brightness, the life that radiates from him, the pureness in him that would fascinate and confuse anyone who’s never had the chance to see him for what he really is, a cosmic force that is so rare, that keeps Keith awake at night feeling guilty for being homesick when maybe, the only home he needs is looking right at him with the ocean in his eyes and the sun on his lips. Keith’s totally head over heels, probably falling in love with Lance, and he just figured that out in a crumb ridden booth in the back of a coffee shop, said boy looking at him with a mixture of bewilderment and worry. 

 

Keith snaps out of it again and grabs both of Lance’s hands, ignoring the pastry that he probably just sent flying off the table.

 

“ Lance, just shut up for a second, please.”

 

“Uhh, okay, but I wasn’t really saying anything. Are you sure you’re okay Keith, you’re being weirder than normal. You almost knocked that server out with a croissant.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, i’m fine. Just...um, will you go on a date with me?” Keith is looking as Lance like he might disappear and Lance can’t help but giggle. 

 

“Dude, we’ve been going out for like, a month, yeah a month this week, I should know, i’m plan-uh nevermind about that but, like, are we on the same page here cus, i’m so confused?”

 

It takes a couple seconds for Keith to realize what he actually said he can’t help but laugh. He’s so bad at this stuff.

 

“Oh, I uh didn’t mean, I mean, I know we’re dating. I just meant, that, like I know that whole one month thing is coming, well actually Pidge may have reminded me two days ago, but like, I know you’re probably planning something embarrassing and cute, which Pidge may have also told me, so I want to do something too. But uh, i’ve never really done anything like that before.”

 

Lance’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and he jumps out of the booth and joins Keith on his side.

 

“Oh my god, you’re too cute right now. You’re rambling like you do when you’re really nervous. I mean, it’s gonna be pretty hard to top my date, but you can try.”

 

Keith punches him the arm with waning conviction, “You just ruined it.”

 

Lance sneaks a kiss on the top of his head and sighs into the plush seats of the booth, humming into his coffee.

 

“Hmmm. But seriously, I’d actually like that, like a lot, I mean, obviously.”

 

“Oh. Okay, well, how about tomorrow?”

 

“Wha-tomorrow? But like isn’t that kind of soon?”

 

“Maybe I don’t need that long to plan the superior date?” Keith sends Lance a mischievous grin, baiting him.

 

“Oh, hell no, Keith. Nope, i’m not falling for it, nope, nope, nope. No way yours will be better than mine. I’ve been planning it for weeks. But, like hypothetically, what did you have in mind for this spontaneous, fake one-month anniversary date? Just for kicks, you know?”

 

Hook, line and sinker. “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you.” Keith says as he cuddles into Lance’s side.

 

Lance grumbles and pretends to push Keith away, only to grab him back when they are actually separated.

 

“You owe me a new croissant.” Lance pouts and shoots Keith those doe eyes and they melt into the seat even further, forgetting that anyone else is in the cafe. They leave with an entire box of pastries, to Lance’s delight and Keith’s chagrin.

 

\-----

 

On Sunday morning, Keith wakes up to the sound of his alarm, which is a crime against humanity on a Sunday, but it’s for a good cause. He actually managed to get a few hours of much needed sleep, even though that only made a whopping five-ish total for the last three days. He stayed up for a little while thinking of things to do for the day with Lance, but to no avail. He finally figured that he would just have some option and wing it, considering spontaneous is kind of his thing, and it would throw off Lance even more, if the day ended up being really nice. He takes a long shower, thinking about all the things he wants to tell Lance. He might tell him how he really feels, that he might be falling for him, he might wait, depends. He stays in the shower until the water starts to turn cold, waiving the possible situations over and over again in his brain. It’s too soon. They’ve only been dating a month, and it’s been so rocky the whole time, with Keith’s mood changes and insecurities, and Lance’s own troubles expressing his feelings. They’re definitely not in love. Love doesn’t happen that fast, right? So where are they, somewhere in between like and love? Keith thinks he might be just at the precipice, ready to fall any moment, but what about Lance? It wracks his brain all morning, but eventually he figures he should tuck it away for the right time.  
He distracts himself with getting ready, actually drying his hair all the way this time, finding a nice pair of dark wash jeans, a long grey t shirt, his palladium boots and a dark grey military jacket that he’s only worn a handful of times because the weather’s never right for it back home. He also decided to finally put in the lip ring that Lance bought him on the first date. It’s so cheesy, but he hasn’t actually worn it yet, and he kinda forgot about them until he saw them on his bedside table, hiding under a bunch of junk. He does a little homework before it’s time to leave, knowing he won’t want to do it later, but mostly to distract himself. Lance texts him a few annoying texts, trying to get him to say what they’re doing. He ignores most of them except the good morning ones. About an hour before they leave, his phone buzzes again.

 

From: Lance 3:06 pm

 

Hey, whatcha wearing ;)

 

Keith audibly scoffs and closes his useless textbook closed for good. He decides to play along a little.

 

To: Lance

 

Wouldn’t you like to know? ;)

 

From: Lance

 

Fuck Keith!! R we actually doing this rn, bc Hunk’s in the room and I don’t think he would appreciate it v much.

 

To: Lance

 

you’re gross. Just wanted to prove it.

 

From: Lance

 

U needed that to prove it ;) lol. Ok but srly, I would like to know what ur wearing

 

To:Lance

 

Enough with the winky faces. Why do you want to know though?

 

From: Lance

 

;) ;) ;) you know you love it

 

From: Lance

 

Tbh, I was actually being halfway innocent idk what to wear tonight cuz someone won’t tell me what we’re doing so….

 

To: Lance

 

sure.... just wear whatever. Nothing fancy. Bring a jacket

 

From: Lance

 

Way to be vague. Fine. see you in a bit ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) <3

 

 

Around 4 pm, Keith has had enough of waiting around doing nothing, so he grabs his keys and wallet, and heads down the hall. Lance constantly jokes about how they never get a real drop-off-from-date experience because they live right down the hall from each other. One time he went outside and tried to throw rocks at Keith’s window, for ‘aesthetic’ and he ended up breaking the RA, Todd’s window instead, which left him cleaning duty for a week.

 

He knocks on the door, only this time, it takes three knocks before the door pops open, revealing a smirking Pidge and Hunk.

 

“Sup Lover boy. Heard about the big date. Whatcha got planned?” Pidge and Keith had gotten a lot closer since the first couple weeks of their acquaintance. Once Pidge figured out for themselves that Keith wasn’t actually a bad guy, they found out they had a lot in common, personality wise, well sarcasm and cynicism wise. They also bonded over a lot of conspiracy talk on night, and well, it’s hard for Lance to even have movie night with either of them anymore. 

 

“Um, where’s Lance.” Keith avoids the topic as much as he can.

 

“You can’t evade my questions Keith. This is me you’re talking to.”

 

Hunk cuts in, “Lance is in the bathroom getting ready, I think. There can’t be much else he can possibly need to primp.”

 

Pidge snickers, about to offer some snarky commentary but is cut off by Lance bounding into the doorway, almost crashing into all three of them.

 

“Oh, Keith. You’re here! Sorry, I was- hold the fuck, what are you wearing?”

 

“Umm, clothes?”

 

“No, on your lip. You’re wearing it!” 

 

Keith touches his lip and remembers the black and red lip ring that he’s currently sporting. He’s worried for a second that Lance might hate it or something until…

 

“Holy fuck, Keith, you can’t just do this to me! I’m supposed to be the hot date tonight, no, you need to take that out right now!”

 

“Um, really?” He plays with the ring with his tongue, eliciting even more of a blush to Lance’s cheeks.

 

Pidge and Hunk are lost in a chorus of giggling at Lance absolutely losing his cool, and Keith somewhere in between lost and enjoying the scene.

 

“You guys might just want to take the rest of the date to Keith’s room cuz Lance is about to-”

 

“Pidge! Shut up! Come on Keith we’re leaving” Lance grabs Keith by his hood and drags him out of the room. 

 

They make it to the elevator before anyone speaks again.

 

“Do you really want me to take it out though. Because, like I get if you’re not into it. I don’t even always like how it looks.”

 

Lance turns to face Keith and grabs his chin with his index finger and thumb.

 

“Keith, don’t you dare take that lip ring out okay?”

 

“Oh. Um okay, so you do like it?” He looks up at Lance fully and does something he never,ever thought he’d do. He winks. 

 

Lance.exe has stopped working. 

 

He takes the silence as a chance to reach up and kiss Lance, like really kiss him for the first time in a little while. He’s been so grumpy and tired recently, it’s only been little kisses, soft touches. He pushes him against the elevator wall and pins one shoulder, while the other hand wraps around the taller boy’s defined hips. Lance melts into the touch, wrapping his arms around Keith to get as close as possible. The elevator may or may not have opened on a few floors, closing without any added passengers actually getting on, on the way down. By the time it reaches the lobby Keith has to physically rip himself out of Lance’s grip, leaving the blue eyed boy even more dazed and flustered. He grabs Lance’s hand and runs out the lobby in somewhat of a walk of shame considering the amount of people that were waiting downstairs to get on. By the time they’re outside, they’re laughing though, not embarrassed, just full of life and its craziness. 

 

“You should do that more often.” Lance says in between breathy laughs as they stroll across the mall, hand in hand, towards the metro station.

 

“Don’t push your luck.” 

 

When they get on the metro, Lance decides to push his luck again and pesters Keith with a million questions. 

 

“So, you’re really not going to tell me where we are going?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“But why? We’re already on the way, so it doesn’t matter.”

 

“Are you going to tell me anything about what you have planned?”

 

“Okay, you got me there. Change of topic though. I was totally not kidding at all about the lip ring. I’m so into it. Like really into it.” He winks at Keith and flashes him a sultry look that makes Keith want to spontaneously combust.

 

“Lance! We’re on the metro, stop!”

 

“ We just made out in an elevator, and i’m pretty sure the whole building knows what’s up now.”

 

“Whatever. Youlooknicetoo.” he mumbles under his breath. Lance really does look...nice, so say the least. He’s wearing a grey button down shirt underneath a burgundy bomber jacket, tan boots, and dark grey, moto style jeans that might trick anyone who doesn’t know Lance into thinking he’s way cooler than the big nerd that he really is. Especially because he decided to forego the pilot goggles, or maybe Hunk and Pidge scared him out of the dorm before he could grab them. He also smells like a combination of his usual ocean breeze and an array of warm spices, and it’s driving Keith crazy. He makes a note to definitely accept Lance’s jacket if he offers it this time. 

 

“What was that, babe?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“Not sure I did. It’s kind of loud on here.”

 

“Hmmm. I said you look nice too.” He rolls his eyes and pushes Lance with his shoulder, making sure not to fluff his ego too much. 

 

Before they know it, it’s there stop and Keith bounds out of the metro, leaving Lance to follow him for once. After a few minutes of walking they approach some kind of car rental place. Keith separates from Lance for a second, telling him to wait outside. When he comes back out five minutes later, a pair of silver keys dangling from his fingers, he expected Lance to be impatiently waiting, but instead he looks serene, watching other students and young families enjoying their Sunday night in the quaint little town. He smiles and waves at a toddler that’s just barely walking, holding onto the pinky of their mother, and Keith’s heart flutters. He waits until the moment is over to yell over to Lance.

 

“Hey, i’m back. Come on.” Lance looks utterly confused

 

“Uhh, what are those for Keith?”

 

“You’ll see, follow me.”

 

They walk around the back of the lot until Keith stops a t a bright red Ducati motorcycle that’s waiting with two helmets on it, one red and one blue.

 

“Keith, what are you doing? Keith, what’s happening? You’re not, driving that, are you? With me?”

 

“Yes. and Yes. Here’s your helmet.”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You just expect me to get on that crazy thing with you driving it? Since when do you even know how to ride one?”

 

“Since before I could even drive a car. I had one back at home, but I couldn’t bring it, obviously. So I found this place and I thought it might be fun to go for a ride, with you.” The look on Lance’s face makes Keith worry that this was a bad idea. What if Lance was afraid to ride on a motorcycle? What if he just didn’t trust Keith to drive it?

 

But then Lance is grabbing the helmet from him and putting it on, a smile like that of a kid in a candy store plastered to his face. 

 

“That was a fast change of mind, wasn’t it?” Keith questions as he puts his own helmet on and starts to sit down on the bike, patting behind him for Lance to climb on. 

 

“Well, I was just shocked is all. Now i’m siked! This is so bucket list worthy. Riding on the back of a red motorcycle with hot boyfriend. Check.”

 

“Just get on will you, already?”

 

Keith feels the warmth from Lance’s chest the second he climbs on and grabs his waist. He’s only ridden with someone else once or twice, some of his foster siblings occasionally asking to go for short rides. It’s usually annoying and uncomfortable but Lance fits like he’s meant to be there, like he should always be there. He starts the engine and pushes the kickstand up, kicking off a little bit before they start to cruise out of the parking lot. 

 

“I’m gonna go slow around town for a sec just to get used to this bike.”

 

“Mhhhm” Well, this is one way to shut the kid up, Keith thinks to himself.

 

They drive around a few blocks before Keith feels like he’s fine to go a little faster. He makes a turn for the exit and kicks it up a few gears, which earns him a high pitched yelp from behind and warm hands clinging onto his waist for dear life. A grin is plastered onto his face as he can start to feel the wind on his face and the combined sense of recklessness and having complete control over the roaring machine. He takes a few more exits until they are out on mostly open road. He’s looking at the same desolate plains that welcomed him into his new life with a completely different outlook. This time he’s not alone. 

 

They ride for what seems like hours, Lance yipping and hollering, shoving his face into Keith’s back when he does something verging on stupid. When the sun starts to set, he decides to head back towards the town, because driving on desert roads at night, with trucks driving at 100 mph is kind of scary even when you drive all the time. Keith didn’t really have anything planned for after this besides maybe getting something to eat. He parks the bike next to a little burger shack that Hunk might have mentioned, was pretty popular in town. He told Keith, ‘It might even be better than Norma’s, but don’t tell her I said anything or else she won’t give me my secret discounts.’

 

He pulls his helmet off, running a hand through his hair and then tying it up in a small ponytail because he knows he probably has helmet hair. Lance does the same, only his hair manages to somehow look even better than before, which is totally not fair. 

 

“It’s just genetics Keith, I swear. My mom has the best hair, hence why mine is always perfect.”

 

“Mhhm, sure. I’m onto you Sanchez. This is some kind of magic.” 

 

“I’m not one of your conspiracies, Keith!” 

 

“I believe you.” Keith mumbles into Lance’s lips and presses into a deep kiss. Lance is sitting on the side of the bike, Keith pressed between his legs. It may or may not have been a fantasy come true for both of them. 

 

Lance pulls away for a second, “Aww really?”

 

“Nope.” And Keith is already halfway across the parking lot of the burger shack.

 

They get their burgers and decide to drive somewhere more quiet to eat. KEith drives a few minutes out of to a very cliche hilltop that Lance won’t shut up about.

 

“No, you don’t get it. This is like ultimate date material right here. I wish I had found it first, or I would totally bring you here. You’d be swooning so hard, I’d definitely win.” Lance spouts out words faster than Keith can listen as he runs up the hill and plops down into the grass with milkshake in hand. 

 

Keith follows him up. “Are you still making this a competition? If so, how many dates until it’s not anymore because i’d like to skip to that one.”

 

“Oooooh, you want to go on another date with me?” Lance bats his eyelashes and makes kissy faces at Keith. He probably hasn’t filled his annoying quota for the day, Keith figures.

 

“I don’t know. Depends.”

 

“Oh shut up and come sit with me.” Lands sets down his milkshake and opens his arms up for Keith to snuggle into. It’s colder now, and there is a chilled wind that sweeps through their hair. Keith settles in next to Lance, the taller boy’s arms and chest engulfing him in warmth. They eat in idle chatter, forgetting any topics about school or stress or anything really important, a rarity in their relationship that Keith didn’t know he needed to so much. He’s never taken the time to just learn about someone through small chat. It’s usually awkward, or forced, but Lance makes it so easy, like he was born as some kind of key that opens people up. He just so happens to be dating the most securely sealed lock in existence. 

 

The sun’s gone down by this point but the moon is so close that they hardly even notice. They’re sitting up against the base of a tree, Keith curled up in Lance’s arms, watching him point out his favorite constellations. He can’t see the blue in the other boy’s eyes anymore, but they’re somehow just as bright, eating up the stars in the same way they did a few weeks ago, but on a very different kind of night. Keith finds himself staring at Lance, taking him in, and for some reason, Lance lets him and he’s searching for something in Keith’s eyes too. Keiths takes a deep breathe and decides that Lance deserves to know everything about him, he wants him to know everything, and he hopes it won’t change anything.

 

“Hey Lance?” He turns around from the other’s embrace so that he can fully face him.

 

“M’yeah?”

 

“I just, uh thank you for-for coming tonight, and for, well being so...I guess, you .” Lance blushes and giggles a little bit, brushing the bangs out of Keith’s face.

 

“ You really don’t need to thank me, I mean, this isn’t exactly torture right now.” He spread his arms out and gestures towards the night sky.

 

“I know, I just, thank you.” Keith takes his hands and kisses his knuckles, something that Lance does often that makes him queasy with love.

 

“Lance?”

 

“Keith?”

 

“I actually wanted to talk to you about something, well about me. It’s just, stuff I feel like you should know, if you want to know, of course.”

 

“Oh. Yeah sure, I mean, only if you want to talk about it. I know i’m bad about talking about myself, so I just figured you were too and I didn’t want to push it. Especially after the whole Shiro thing.”

 

“Yeah. same. I guess i’ll start with Shiro then.” Keith nervously fiddles with Lance’s fingers while he talks the whole way through, starting and stopping occasionally, telling as much as he can for now.

 

They had talked about some things before, mostly late at night, when both of them were drifting off. Neither of them really knew which things were heard, and which things they were only said in the comfort of the other’s sleeping presence. This was just another layer of the things they would tell each other, just another thin coat exposed of who they are. Lance and Keith both know that there’s a lot kept in the dark, but it seems okay as long as they’re making progress. Keith had heard more and more about Lance’s family, it was only time he talked about his. He tells him about how he met Shiro, what he means to him, why they fought. He stops before talking about why he still can’t manage to text him back, how he might have lost him with the words he sent the last time they messaged. Lance is mostly quiet, nodding and giving Keith full attention, but he doesn’t try to offer advice or sympathy, he just lets Keith talk. 

 

“I kinda told you the other night that I’m an orphan, have been since I was born. I’ve had so many foster families I’m not even sure I can remember all of their names honestly. Some were horrible, some were okay, some were nice. The last family I had, the Jacobs, they were actually pretty great, and they lived in this lodge in Vermont that was beautiful. It was a shame I didn’t meet them until I was 17, though. They helped me get into my first college. And then, I let them down.” Keith talked for a little longer and started to peter off, he hadn’t realized how much he had been holding back all these months. It was only three days ago that he realized he missed home. It hurt, remembering an entire life of shit, within a couple of minutes, in poorly drawn words. When he stopped talking Lance silently cradled him in his arms until the tears stopped.

 

“Hey Lance?”

 

“Mhhm?”

 

“Thanks for listening.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Can you tell me more about your family?” He pauses and looks at Keith with a seriousness Keith hasn’t seen yet.

 

“Listen Keith, my family is, complicated, and I know you just told me more than I deserve to know about you but, I-I just don’t want tonight to be sad okay. I can’t do it, not tonight. But I will, soon. I just need a little more time.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Of course.” Keith smiles and leans up to kiss Lance gently on the corner of his mouth, and then on his his nose, his forehead, his cheeks, until finally his lips. 

 

“Whatever you want to say tonight, or whenever. It’s okay.”

 

\----

 

Back at the dorms, Lance follows Keith back into his room. They sleepily pull off their shoes, followed by jeans and jackets. Keith lets Lance pick out a t-shirt to wear. He or course chooses Keith’s favorite MCR one that’s old and worn and soft. They silently crawl into bed and Keith finds his way into Lance’s arms again. They fall asleep in a tangle of limbs, breathing each other’s air, absorbing each other’s warmth. Keith feels sleep pulling him under faster than he can even say goodnight, and then the world is dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so 1) I know little about motorcycles, so sorry if I fucked some of that part up (sorry to my dad cus he loves them too) 2) we will actually hear about Lance's family eventually, don't worry 3) the end is a little rushed, I know, but I got impatient 4) I love making really cheesy, poetic star analogies, Idk why??
> 
> talk to me at http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com


	18. Pinkish in Color Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancealot likes to romance a lot, get it? ;) No seriously, Lance has a date to plan and it's slowly killing him. Keith is mostly just confused, ignorantly happy, but confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take it, have it, rid me of it *cries in a burrito bundle on my bed* So, it's here...Over 10k words of just fluff stuff and word vomit. This chapter is a little all over the place considering i've been writing it in very small chunks over the course of a monthish. It's been (not really) slaved over through finals, birthday shots, holidays, a post holiday cold, and now, the finishing touches are being made while i'm watching trash tv, aka that horrific rose giving show whose name will not be mentioned *cough cough*.

Monday~

Lance always pictured that the first night he spent wrapped up in someone’s arms would seamlessly blend into a morning with fuzzy cuddles and hours spent trying to get each other out of bed as the soft glow of the rising sun turns into the afternoon. What he gets is a blaring alarm that doesn’t resemble a ‘Morning baby’ so much as the sounds of satan’s shower tunes or what he always imagined Vogon poetry to be like outside the pages of a book . Before the assault, he was already in that half dream state of sleep where he wasn’t quite sure if the warmth wrapped around his waist was a figment or actually happening. When warm hands turn into a death grip and then a release as the boy next to him tumbles onto the floor, reality sets in and the moment is ruined for sure. All he can manage to do is wrap a pillow around his face, trying to drown out the harsh sounds, while a floundering Keith wrestles with his phone to turn the alarm off. When the alarm finally stops incessantly ringing, the room is filled with exasperated breaths and a general vibe of ‘what the fuck?’.

 

Lance removes the pillow from his face after a couple moments and rolls over on the bed, dangling his upper body over the edge to get a better look at a very grumpy Keith on the floor. To anyone else, his ragamuffin boyfriend would probably look like an angry troll, eyes narrowly slit open, deep furrow creasing his face, and general dishevelment, missing sock and all. To Lance, it’s unbearably cute and he makes sure to permanently fix the image in his head before completely rolling off of the bed and landing right on top of Keith.

 

“Fuck. Ugggh, Lance get off.” Keith grumbles and half heartedly nudges Lance’s shoulders, which just makes the other boy tighten his koala grip.

 

“No, Keith, too snuggly. I can’t physically move.” He buries his head in Keith’s chest, pushing the boundaries to the limit of how much he can get away with when Keith is still half asleep.

 

Unfortunately, the snooze alarm comes back on and by then Keith is fully awake and rolling out from underneath Lance, leaving all that remains of the cuddle sesh behind.

 

“Fuck, it’s fucking mother fucking Monday.” Keith mumbles as he throws his phone down on the bed and sits down, running a hand through his untamed hair and simultaneously yawning and blinking as he tries to wake up.

 

“Wanna say fuck again?”

 

“Fuck.”

 

Lance starts giggling as he tries to stand up, the heaviness of sleep slowly escaping his bones.

 

“Jeesh Keith, you really aren’t a morning person?” He leans over and places a soft peck on his pouting boyfriend’s forehead and ruffles his hair a bit because it’s just too cute to pass up.

 

“I thought we already established that me and waking up aren’t meant to be.” Keith’s leans into the touch like a cat.

 

“Yeah well maybe you shouldn’t register for 8 am classes next semester.”

 

“Noted.” Keith ducks his head out from under Lance’s hand and stands up, ripping at his dresser drawers for something to throw on, and starting to slip off his shirt.

 

Lance suddenly feels flushed at the realization that oblivious Keith would probably just unblushingly strip off his clothes in front of him without any prior thought so he jets up from the bed and makes for the door. He may talk the game a lot, but in reality Lance is a very inexperienced, very hopeless romantic who will probably absolutely lose his shit when the time comes for seeing Keith undress. Even if they did just sleep together, they didn’t _sleep_ together and he is totally not ready to get all hot and bothered about the potential of seeing a naked Keith right before their first class, no thanks. He rushes over to the door while Keith has a his shirt over his head and ushers a quick goodbye.

 

“I gotta uhhh go get ready for class. I’ll meet you out front.” He blows a quick kiss in the air and shuts the door, hightailing to his room because one, he’s gonna be late as frick and two, he accidentally let himself look at Keith’s beautifully defined back before he left and shit, now he won’t be able to stop thinking about it.

 

They don’t even have time to take a shower or look halfway decent for class so Lance basically grabs whatever is first in his drawer, consisting of some navy blue joggers, a long sleeve summer camp shirt, and some sneakers. He almost face plants running into Hunk, who is already on his way out because he is a responsible student and speeds up into hyperdrive.

 

Jumping on the floor trying to put his second shoe on, he grabs his backpack and runs out the door. Keith had just shut his door when Lance swoops by, grabs the still sleepy boy by the elbow and flies down the stairs. As usual, they just make it to class just when the professor steps in and starts making some kind of announcement to which, maybe two out of fifty people in the class even try to listen to. Lance and Keith are catching their breath when Hunk and Pidge wave to them at their seats.

 

Pidge’s face is one hundred percent smug when they finally sit down.

 

“So guys…”

 

“Don’t even start.” Lance says in a rushed breath, pointing a finger in front of Pidge’s mouth.

 

“What? I didn’t even say anything.”

 

Keith buts in still out of breath, “Yeah but you were going to-don’t.” He manages a somewhat successful scowl in his tired state but he doesn’t really think it will affect his new-found, meddling, evil, hacking, fiend/friend.

 

In an act of savior, Hunk pulls out a tupperware container from his bag and offers it as a peace offering.

 

Lance’s face lights up instantaneously.

 

“Hunk, my bro, my soul mate, my other half, those aren’t what I think they are?”

 

Hunk shushes him, even though the professor never has any idea, nor cares if people are listening to him, and quietly rips off the lid of the container to reveal a mountain of sparkling, golden donut type treats. Pidge and Lance practically barrel towards the container, but Hunk pulls it away in just enough time.

 

Pidge is whining and Lance is trying desperately to pry the container from Hunk.

 

Hunk sees Keith finally break down from curiosity, “Hunk, what are those and what kind of magical powers do they possess?”

 

Lance cuts in, “What are these? Keith, these are not just things, these are all mighty entities, fried, sugary gifts from some kind of Hawaiian deity that happened to trust Hunk who’s soul is as sweet as his cooking, with their ancient recipe.”

 

“That seems dramatic. Hunk, what _are they_?”

 

Hunk chuckles, pushing back Pidge with one hand and swatting at Lance with his elbow.

 

“They’re called malasadas. They’re like donuts, but way better. I make them with my grandmas recipe and these two are crazy about them, hence why they’re acting like brain starved zombies right now. I made them yesterday for a certain someone in our math class, but I brought extra to sacrifice some for your guys’s mercy from Pidge.”

 

He shifts his body so his back is facing Pidge and the container is nestled in his chest. “But now, i’m not really sure that Lance deserves mercy- oww Lance stop stepping on my feet!”

 

Keith seems to lazily looks at the professor who is fussing with some kind of telescope contraption up front, then back to the container of delicious looking sweets and his two possessed friends who finally got a hold of the container, and then leans over and snags one from Lance’s hand and thinks his Monday could be a lot worse. He makes sure to reserve some from Hunk next he time he makes them in case Lance is being particularly difficult and he needs to bribe him.

 

Tuesday~

 

After classes on Monday, Lance devoted the entire evening to rearranging his date plans for the soon to be the most magical, awe inspiring, one of a kind, mind blowing, knock Keith’s fuzzy red socks off one monthiversary date that would make Keith’s look like...well not as good as his. Screw homework and adult responsibilities, his piling laundry will have to wait because Lance has a date to replan. The other idea, which he has been painstakingly planning two weeks prior to what Lance is now calling the Sexy Motorcycle Incident of 2016, had to be scrapped when he realized that the date needed to be unique. Keith wasn’t just the run of the mill love interest in Lance’s weird sitcom of a life, he wasn’t even his manic pixie dream guy. Sure it’d be cool if Lance has to battle Keith’s secret seven exes in order to win him over, but the point is, Keith is special, and he deserves a well thought out date.

 

Surprisingly, wicked date planning is not really considered a valid excuse when Lance tries to explain to to Allura that he couldn’t finish any of his assignment for class the following day.

 

Wednesday~

 

By Wednesday, Lance thinks he is thoroughly fucked in the date planning department. Well, that’s not entirely true. He has somewhat of a plan for Saturday. In fact, he has the most elaborate set of backup plans upon back up plans sorted A through Z in his computer in case plan A, which is really the only acceptable plan in his mind, totally tanks.

 

“Dude, you’ve got to chill out man, Keith isn’t gonna like break up with you because you didn’t plan the world’s most ultimate date for your, might I add,  one month anniversary!”

 

Hunk’s words go in one ear and out the other as Lance lays spread eagle on the shaggy carpet of their dorm room. After staying up for practically two days straight trying to make his plans come through, he is practically hysterical. Even Pidge who isn’t exactly the world’s shining example of getting eight hours of sleep every night, is frankly concerned for his sanity.

 

“Lance, Hunk’s right! So what if you can’t get this last thing to work out? As much as I hate to admit it, there is literally almost no way you could make a date boring or not fun. You’re a literal personified fiesta on two scrawny legs. Keith likes you for, for lots of stuff, like...well i’m not sure exactly, but that’s not the point. Have you even seen Keith in the last three days? Are you even sure he’s still alive and breathing? What if he got abducted by aliens or something? You know me and him have been doing a lot of research on the possibility-”

 

“Pidge-not helping. Lance, what we’re trying to say is maybe, no definitely, yeah you’re definitely trying too hard for someone who’s probably just happy chilling out doing simple things. Your relationship doesn’t ride on you getting these tickets. You need to calm down."

 

Lance rolls around onto his stomach, making an exasperated face at his two friends who at this point are only half invested in the conversation, half invested in some new Overwatch snowball mini game.

 

“Ugghhh, guys! You don’t understand the gravity of the situation! I’m not worried about him dumping me, it’s just, my date has to be BETTER- oh shit, now i’m worried he’s going to break up with me!”

 

“Oh god, Karen’s gonna have a field day dissecting your brain tomorrow Lance.”

 

“She doesn’t get paid enough for your antics.”

 

“Wow, thanks Pidgey, I feel so loved and supported.” Lance sighs, dejected.

 

Pidge can sense the heavy weight in that foreign sound coming from their friend and knows it’s about much more than a silly date.

 

They roll backwards from their bean bag and grab Lance’s face, squishing his cheeks.

 

“Ohh, why do I do this to myself? Lance Sanchez, our spastic, melodramatic, loveable, hopeless mess of a best friend, we are going to get those goddamn tickets for you and you’re going to blow Keith’s fucking date out of the water or so be it my name isn’t Pidge!”

 

“Um, but your name isn’t Pidge.”

 

“Hunk, not the point! I’m going to go insane if I hear him pout any longer! Big guy, we’re going to need my computers, some Monster, the best snacks you’ve got and my N-strike elite nerf gun please and stat! Here’s my dorm key. Ándale!”

 

“Should I even question the last thing?” Hunk sighs as he heads out the door already knowing the answer.

 

“Buhh, whaa do I haf tdo?” Lance mumbles, cheeks still pressed together by Pidge’s clammy little hands. He can’t help but think this is somehow turning into one of Pidge’s “projects” when they get too bored from easy schoolwork and hardly has anything to do with his romantic conquests.

 

“You...you just get to sit here and look pretty at this point.” Pidge squishes his face one more time until they can’t help but chuckle at his fish lips and then rolls back again onto the bean bag, cracking their knuckles in prep for internet scouring time.

  


Thursday~

 

Keith doesn’t wake up until well into Thursday afternoon. He thinks he rather deserves it after the Calculus purgatory he’s been in all week. Rolling over to glance at his phone, his alarm clock dashes 10:38 am. Okay, cool, he has hours before his only class today. He checks his messages and blinks sleepily at Lance’s good morning text which is more like a 300 word essay covering every topic from good morning to why pizza isn’t considered a normal breakfast food to rebuttals for Keith’s conspiracy theories that he thought up at 3 am. Keith vaguely recalls Lance carrying a twelve pack of Monsters into his dorm a couple nights ago, which begs the question, when was the last time the kid slept?

 

-

“Ah, shit, i’m gonna be late! Hunk why didn’t you wake me up?”

 

Lance bolts out of bed, tripping on empty cans and stumbling over to the bathroom to brush his teeth and drag a comb through his hair.

 

Hunk groans, covering his face with a pillow, turning over on his bed to face the open bathroom door “Hmm, let’s see… because with the nap we took last night plus the time we actually slept, that makes up a whopping, ehh 45 minutes. You need to sleep dude. It’s not healthy.”

 

Lance pokes his head out of the door with a toothbrush in one hand, fresh jeans in the other.

“ Irrr kenn’t, Hurkkk, fings tuhhdoo.” Hunk hears him spit in the sink and then he’s racing back out into the dorm and grabbing something off his desk.

 

“Oh, is it Thursday already?”

 

“Uggh, yeah, and I have-” he grabs his phone and keys, “Shit, fifteen minutes to get across campus. I gotta go. But thanks for everything, I can’t believe we got the tickets!.” He chugs a few sips of another drink and giddily runs out of the dorm, clicking his feet together then racing down the hall.

 

Keith wanders out of his room after a couple minutes to go find some coffee somewhere. He closes his door and pads over to the elevators but stops when he hears feet loudly clodding down the hall. He turns backwards and only sees a flash of blue and messy brown hair emerging and suddenly stopping moments before collision.

 

“Lance?”

 

“Oh, Keith, good I thought I’d have to wake you up. Here take this.” Lance looks positively crazed, like he might collapse from exhaustion but also like the energy bunny on cocaine.

 

A small bag is tossed in his hands and he barely catches it. Lance is already retreating to the stairway door yelling something about , ‘I gotta go, see you later babe.’

 

“But…???”

 

When he goes to worriedly ask Hunk what was up and where his idiot was going in such a hurry, he gets a pillow thrown at his face and a groan, telling him all he needs to know.

  


Friday~

 

On Monday, Lance brought over a gift for Keith, saying it was one of several this week. A clue of sorts predeceasing the world's best date. Before parting for bed, Lance ran over to his dorm to grab something and presented Keith with none other than a Star Wars shirt, one of Lance’s Star Wars shirts.

 

‘It’s _your_ sleepover shirt. Cuz I already picked mine.’ Then Lance turned around with the shirt in his hands and left a very confused Keith at his doorway. He yelled down the hall at the last minute, ‘I have to keep it or else it would be pointless, silly.’

 

On Tuesday, they barely saw each other, Calculus hell, remember. Keith got a knock on the door and laid out in front was a small bottle of tequila and a gift card to Chevy’s

 

Wednesday, Lance poked him during one of Coran’s boring lectures and presented him with a Spiderman pencil. ‘I owed you one,’ was all he said, with a wink as the exclamation point.

Thursday, was the hallway incident when in his sleep dazed state, he almost got beheaded by a bag of Hershey kisses and an attached Valentine’s Day card that had Snow White on the cover and said, ‘kisses to wake a sleepy princess, although i’m also happy to provide.’

_Where the hell did he get a Valentine in mid November?_

 

Today, today Keith woke up to a small piece of paper being pushed through the crack under his doorway. He climbed out of bed and grabbed for the note, opening it up to reveal one of Lance’s comics. This time, no Coran the mustache man. Instead, it was Keith and Lance as superheroes. The first page was actually a pretty good drawing of them wielding fire and ice, fighting off some purple space aliens. The epilogue though was a direct rip off of the Incredibles, which yes, Keith has actually seen. They’re in an apartment and Lance is asking for his supersuit and Keith is giving him a sassy look. Keith actually giggled a little bit at that. But, also he's slightly offended. As if Keith wouldn’t have their supersuits prepared at all times for battle. Come on, Lance.

  
  


Saturday~

 

Saturday morning is the timid, metaphorical rays of the shining sun peeking out from behind a long drawn hazy fog. Really, no euphemism could detract from the craziness that has consumed the last couple of days of Lance, aka Sir Lancelot, shining knight of romantic enchantment, liaison of the fine and the amorously disinclined (aka Keith, or so he thought until last weekend), martyr of his own goddamn beating heart, Sanchez’s life. If his Mama only knew the conscious level of departure from his academic responsibilities that he has taken this week, all to find some sold out tickets for one date. If only his professors knew what properly channeled determination on his end could achieve. It’s actually pretty impressive to be honest.  Well the second part. His Mama would probably have some choice words to say to him if she found out what he had gotten into this time. But thus is the life of Lance Sanchez.

 

The second his alarm goes off, Lance is up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Today is gonna be good. Not only does he get to have a super cute date with his admittedly super hot whatever Keith and him are (they apparently haven’t found it important enough to DTR yet). But also, he gets to wipe the floor with his super hot Keith because his date is going to be awesome and unequivocally the Best ™. So there.

 

He manages to hop in the shower before even Hunk, the early riser of the bunch can manage to hog up the bathroom, starting off the day with one of his way too expensive face masks and makes sure to use that aftershave that he knows Keith secretly likes a lot. He slips on a t shirt with little Totoro's all over it and some sweats for now and heads over to Keith’s dorm to bring him some of Hunk’s homemade blueberry muffins. Technically, they’re not going out until after lunch, but a quick morning hello seems reasonable after the week Keith has had. It actually worked out that Lance had chosen this week to be  too preoccupied to spend time with his boyfriend by planning a date for his boyfriend as apparently Calculus was doing its job at ruining Hunk and Keith’s lives the past few days. Poor Keith hadn’t even realized what Lance was talking about when he tried to apologize for being MIA, and then he just started rambling off questions about integrals and vector fields.  

 

He slips out the door quietly with a tumbler of coffee and some muffins and knocks on the familiar room down the hall, quietly at first and then adding in a melodic song of Keith’s name.

 

“Keith, babe. I bring muffins and coffee and a gorgeous kissable face!”

 

He hears what sound like a pillow being tossed at the door followed by clumsy footsteps.

 

The door opens to a very sleepy, very cute boy that’s giving him a very…”cute” death glare. His facial expression changes almost instantaneously though upon getting a good look at Lance. Something in Lance’s heart pitter patters and he goes in to plant a kiss on soft fluffy bangs when he is interrupted by pale hands, covered to the fingertips by a big grey sweater, making grabbing hands at the tumbler of coffee.

 

Keiths face lights up even more when he gets hold of the cup. “ Does this have that creamer I like in it?”

 

Lance is frankly insulted. How dare he choose coffee over his loving boyfriend’s kiss? How dare he look so cute with his sweater paws and rustled hair while doing so? How dare him!? He manages to draw himself out of his baffled stupor and draws the tumbler back out of reach. Haaa take that Keith!

 

“You asshole, you’re not getting this coffee now after that. _RUDE !_ ” Lance says, struggling to stop from giggling so as to maintain his  facade of very legitimate annoyance.

 

Of course, Keith knows a few of his weaknesses by now, wrapping arms around Lance’s waist and plunging his icy cold fingers under the hem of his shirt, making Lance crumple down to the shorter boy’s height. He grabs the coffee once again and smooches the tip of Lance’s nose before dragging him over to the side of the bed so they are sitting thigh to thigh, shoulder to shoulder.

 

“That was cruel, babe! I bring you breakfast and you completely ignore me. I’m starting to think the whole sugar daddy thing has yet to really be proven false.” Lance proclaims, sprawling onto Keith’s bed and grabbing his pillow to hug to his chest. He may have pressed it to his face just to smell the lingering strawberry scent of Keith’s shampoo, but it’s not like anyone needs to know.

 

After a few moments of silence, Keith sipping on coffee, waiting for his senses to kick in, he puts the mug down and plops backwards next to Lance. Lance lays still, eyes closed, pillow laying on his chest, waiting for the soft apology he knows is coming, because this isn’t exactly a one time occurrence. He saw first hand earlier this week what a morning person Keith is. But newness doesn’t equate to diminished surprise. When a soft kiss is pressed on his cheek and then at the corner of his mouth, Lance feels butterflies in his stomach. He might definitely know the reason why, but like hell is he going to admit that just yet.

 

“Sorry. Thanks for coming over, even though I don’t know why you would put yourself at risk. You should just wait until after feeding time.” He chuckles softly and nudges into Lance’s neck, placing one more kiss on the sensitive skin.

 

He nudges into the touch and giggles. “Okay A, i’m happy that you are at least self aware of your scary morning temper tantrums, but B, you can’t just steal my opportunity at making dinosaur jokes and do it yourself, not fair. I’m supposed to be the funny nerd. And...and C, as much as you would like to believe it, you aren’t as much a dinosaur as maybe a grumpy chipmunk or a red panda or something. Getting all puffed up and intimidating looking with minimal payoff. ” Lance takes a moment from his rambling to peek down at the beast in question and notices a challenging smirk plastered on his face..Oh Shit…

 

“Oh, go on please.” Keith chides in, getting up in Lance’s face until their noses almost touch.

 

“Mmhmmm, sure thing, Keithy.”

 

He’s honestly running out of stupid things to argue about with Keith, so bring on the pick up lines.

 

Lance takes the bait.” Okay, well D, ummmm…heh...hmmm well I guess if you want to be a raptor, I wouldn’t mind being the Chris Pratt to your Blue?” Okay, even Lance will admit that was horrible. So bad.

 

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Keith’s resolve breaks down and he’s howling.

 

“Oh god, that was so bad. Like I don’t even know what you were saying half way through. Do you ever shut up for like five seconds, oh my god.” His eyes are crinkling up in a way that only seems to happen when Lance has hit the peak of his idiot scale, but he’d gladly ramble like a dumbass to see that grin.

 

‘Okay, well as much as I’d like to sit here and continue embarrassing myself before my rad date, I have to go get ready for sed date.” Lance picks himself up off the bed and scruffs Keith’s hair one more time, looping a soft curl around his fingers.

 

“I’ll see you in a little bit, prepare to be amazed.” He makes an exploding gesture with his hands around his head, walking backwards towards the door. “It’s gonna be fun!”

 

Keith raises an eyebrow. “We’ll see about that, Ranger.” He grabs a muffin and takes a huge bite, looking as dino-like as possible which earns him blazing finger guns and a *pew pew* noise from Lance before the door shuts.

 

A Few Hours Later~

 

“Dude, you look so cool!” Hunk exclaims, finally seeing the payoff of his involvement in the latest of Lance’s shenanigans.

 

“Hmm, i’m not sure if cool is the correct word you’re looking for Hunk.”

 

Pidge and Hunk decide to bunk in Lance’s dorm while he gets ready for the date, Hunk for moral support, Pidge for a front row seat at the inevitable embarrassment that will happen again when Keith comes over to pick up Lance.

 

“Pidge, shut up, you know I look rad!” Lance snaps back, fixing his newly dyed, blue ombre hair that goes from his natural brown to a dark aqua color and then midnight blue at the tips (its temporary of course, because a certain Hunk wouldn’t let him get fully permanent ‘You never know if you’ll hate it after, what if blue really isn’t your color?’).

 

“Please don’t say rad ever again. But I guess the color looks nice.”

 

“Aww Pidge that’s like the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” He says, finally exiting the bathroom, wearing his dark skinny jeans that make his ass look real nice, a steel gray t-shirt that hangs loose on his collar bone, and some socks with zombie cupcakes on them that have yet to be shoed.

 

“Yeah shut up already, i’m getting nauseous with all the friend bonding that has occurred this week. You owe me some Mario Kart soon so we can return to our normal levels of ‘i’m your friend, but i’ll cut you and possibly stop talking to you if you fucking use that blue shell on me one more time.”

 

“Yeah sure thing buddy. Hunk, have you seen my-”

 

Hunk tosses his pair of suede boots from next to his bed, almost beaning him in the face in the process, but they miss by a hair.

 

“Thanks, and thanks so much for everything you guys did. Before we go back to tolerating each other, Pidge, I love you.” Lance plops down next to Hunk on the very edge of the beanbag, pulling on his boots and then grabbing Pidge and pulling them halfway off their bean bag and into Lance’s arms.

 

“Ewww, gross, get off!” Pidge screams, hiding a small smile beneath glasses and scruffy hair.

 

Lance relaxes for the first time in days and leans back against Hunk. Tonight is gonna be fun as hell, and totally unexpected coming from Lance. Now is just a waiting game. Keith, prepare to be fuckin’ stunned.

 

The knocks at the door come about five minutes after 6, typical Keith being fashionably late even though he literally lives two seconds away. Lance opens the door and leans against the frame, putting on his most sultry look he can. It’s a little awkward considering his two best friends are basically replacing what his siblings would be doing at home, waiting to feed off of Lance’s imminent embarrassment like vultures sitting on street posts. But then again, when is he not in an awkward situation.

 

When Keith actually bothers to look up from his feet, he silently stares at the coquettish boy in front of him. His eyes widen and Lance can’t tell what he’s thinking until his eyes soften and do a thorough up and down scan, his mouth curling up into a smile.

 

“Uhh”

 

“Yes?” Lance leans over some more, encroaching his boyfriend’s space.

 

“You...uh, your outfit is...umm and..blue...hair?” Keith stands visibly redder than he was when the door opened, Lance thinks.

 

“Oh, yeah, do you like it?” Lance slouches a bit, grabbing at the ends of his hair, unsure if this was a good idea or not even though Keith doesn’t really know what the motive behind the hair dye was in the first place.

 

“Sure looks like he likes it!” He hears Pidge shouting from inside the room.

 

He turns back to Keith, a sly grin making its presence on his face. Oh, now he’s sure Keith is blushing. Got em’

 

“I’m waiting down the hall while you get your stuff.” Keith coughs and then stalks off, grumpily.

 

Once Lance grabs his wallet and keys, he salutes his friends and runs down the hall after Keith, secretly hoping he’s still flustered so he can remember it forever. He knew these jeans were magical.

 

He sees Keith leaning up against the elevator, face still a little flushed. He looks pretty good too in way too tight black skinny jeans,  a black v neck and a bomber jacket with a bunch of weird patches on it. He even has a some kind of designer looking fanny pack hanging off if his hips that looks...good?

 

“So, you come here often, hot stuff?” Lance leans next to Keith, one hand pressed on the wall next to his head. The fanny pack wearing hottie turns up from his phone and snorts.

 

“Shut up! Let’s go, dork.” He grabs Lance’s collar and proceeds to bully him out of the dorm building, playfully snapping back at any attempt Lance makes to bring up the flustered reaction earlier.

 

They get an uber this time because they’re going a little out of the way of the college town, into the neighboring city. About a half hour and many whispered pick up lines on Lance’s end later, they hop out the uber and into the downtown area.

 

They’re walking, holding hands when Keith must have decided Lance wasn’t being an annoyance anymore and actually talks to him.

 

“So, are you just making a new fashion statement or is there a reason for all this?” He gestures to well, Lance.

 

“Oh Keith, do I really need more of a reason than making you get all hot and bothered in front of our friends?”

 

“Fuck, just shut up already. I was surprised is all. You normally look like a cute nerd and then you’re standing at the door with blue hair and that shirt and reallytightpantsokay?! I was obviously just in shock.”

 

“Right. Sure thing babe, but if it makes you feel any better you look like you just walked off a Moschino runway or some shit so the feeling’s mutual. But back to your question the reason’s a little bit of both. Technically, there is kind of reason, but also technically i’ve always wanted to dye my hair and this seemed like a good out. But let’s go with the latter one to be safe because you’ll probably think the reason’s stupid.”

 

They walk in silence for a little longer and for the first time in a while it’s uncomfortable, like there’s some unspoken pressure keeping them from falling back into easy conversation that’s not laced with sarcasm and friendly jabs. It feels foreign, it’s not what they do. There’s always a steady fire going, licking at every interaction and tonight it’s only a smoldering ember.

 

“Ohhhkayy? Hey so like, are you okay, you seem off and I’ve barely seen you in like a whole week?” Keith finally breaks the silence.

 

“You know this whole dating competition thing is fake right? Like I really don’t care what we do tonight. In fact i’d honestly be happy just back at the dorms because  right now my clothes are uncomfortably tight and i’m sure you’re broke by now and I’m just here cus I like spending time with you.” The last part of the sentence is barely audible, getting lost in the cacophony of city sounds.

 

“Did you talk to Hunk?” They stop walking just outside a strip of restaurants that Lance was planning to take Keith to, and Keith takes Lance’s fidgeting hands in his.

 

Keith looks hesitant, scuffing his shoes to the sidewalk like he does when he’s thinking.

 

“I might have? You seemed stressed or something and I wanted to know what was up. And then when I ran into you the other day you almost pummeled me over and then left so…”

Lance is thinking maybe he should have listened to Pidge when they told him that a date doesn’t matter if you no longer have a boyfriend to bring on it.

 

“Yeah, sorry. I just, Pidge said something that fucked me up and I wanted tonight to be perfect and fun because frankly it’s been a whirlwind of a month, Keith, like I don’t know what I am doing, and you’re just you know and I, well, I wanted to show you-” He feels his eyes start to water up and It’s like all the stress of the week and the whole semester have finally caught up with him and now he’s breaking down in the middle of downtown with at least twenty people in a thirty foot radius. Keith lets him calm down for a few moments, rubbing circles into the back of his hands.

 

“Ugghh.” He wipes his face really quick with his arm and tries to get a grip. “Sorry, here I am trying to be the world’s most spectacular date and then I cry like a dork, heh. ” His head falls onto Keith’s shoulder and nestles into the collar of his jacket.

 

Keith finally breathes deeply and speaks. “Hey, it’s okay, Lance. I can’t really pretend that I know what you’re on about, we can try to talk about it later I guess, if you want. But i’ll probably only say this once so listen to me. I literally have no idea what i’m doing, like at any given time, especially when you’re involved. I pretend like I do, but everyday I wonder why you haven’t just stopped talking to me, so please don’t worry about any of this shit, yeah?”

 

“Yeah, okay, you’re right...So do you think we can just pick up from here and pretend like this never happened because I actually have something fun planned and I don’t wanna be bummed out.” He lifts his head and puts on a big, cheesy grin, a real one.

 

Keith grabs his hand and continues walking in the direction they were headed. “Fine, but on one condition.”

 

“Shoot.”

 

“We’re not going on another date that doesn’t consist of take out, your fuzzy blanket and sci-fi movies on my laptop for a long ass time. Capisce?”

“Dude, I am so game. I don’t even think I can afford to eat anything but vending machine food after tonight.”

 

“Lance!”

They stop at a halt in front of a restaurant and Lance drags them inside before Keith can complain.

 

Lance bounds up to the hostess, a new spring in his step as the nervousness he was feeling has been shed away.

 

“We have a reservation for two under Sanchez.” The hostess gives them a soft smile and grabs some menus.

 

“Okay follow me Mr. Sanchez and also Mr. Sanchez?” Lance’s face turns about seven shades darker.

 

“Oh, uh, no we’re not, uh we’re in college, yeah, totally not I mean we haven’t even really defined the relationship-

 

“Oh my god Lance shut up” Keith whisper yells in his ear, lightly kicking the back of his calf. The hostess however is just giggling along like she knew what she started before she even said it.

 

“Sorry about that. Here is your table. Have either of you had Cuban food before?” Lance sees Keith look over at him frantically like it just occurred to him that the restaurant was Cuban, even though the atmosphere is definitely a clue.

 

“Yeah, i’m actually Cuban.”

 

“Oh, okay great, well i’m sure you know what’s good. Anything you’d like to drink, or just water?”

 

“Water’s good, thanks!”

 

She leaves and they can see her talking in rapid Spanish to a couple of the other staff excitedly. Probably happy they don’t have to explain the menu for the thousandth time this week.

 

“ So, i’m guessing you’re going to order for me and I get no say in the matter, Mr. Sanchez?” Keith snorts a little in that cute, should be obnoxious but totally isn’t way.

 

“ First, you should take it as a compliment that we look so mature and second, second yes, yes I am because you live off of a diet of goldfish crackers and chicken nuggets, and I for one, will only let you taste the best Cuba has to offer, as your elected sugar daddy.”

 

“I will actually slap you in public, don’t test me.”

 

“Awe, but babe, not in front of my people.” He flashes his best big, blue puppy eyes.

“You’re not even fully Cuban...Fine, you can pick. ” Puppy eyes always work on Keith.

 

The waitress comes back and takes their order. Lance spews off the names of a couple of his favorite dishes that he wants Keith to try and they chat a little, catching up on each other’s hellish weeks.

 

“So you found a Cuban place to take me?”

 

“Oh, yeah I looked on the internet for a place near us and couldn’t find anywhere and then I remembered this place. My Mama and I came here once to check it out right around when I moved in. She says it’s pretty damn good but her pork is better. I mean, she’s Mexican technically , but her family lived in Cuba for a long time so that’s what she cooks mostly. It’s so good Keith. So, even if you think this place is better, when she cooks for you, her’s is the best, got it?” He can’t help but giggle thinking about her Mama feeding Keith until he can’t move. They’d get along, probably too well to be honest.

 

Keith’s smile is radiating across the table and it beams even more when the waitress brings over the food presented in vivid colors and smelling of rich spices.

 

“Oh God, Lance. I’m actually going to die. ” Keith’s eyes practically glow, his face an open canvas that’s expressing nothing but pure desire and ecstasy. It might make Lance wonder what else could get Keith to make that face. If he weren't an innocent angel.

 

“Yeah I know. Looks good right? I’ll write, ‘Died a Spicy Cuban Flavored Death’ on your tombstone, kay?” He says with a wink and then proceeds to starts pointing out foods, ignoring Keith’s affronted facial expression.

 

“This is the marinated pork, it’s probably my favorite and my family’s go to dish. And this is Ropa Vieja, which is shredded beef, also very good. And then I got Moros y Cristianos, which is black beans and rice. There’s a lot of other good sides, but I just got this for now cus I knew it’d be a lot. Okay ¡comamos!”

 

He watches Keith take a bite, waiting for a good response and boy does he get it. Keith slides down into the chair a bit, mouth full, and waves at Lance to let him have a moment and start eating too.

 

In what seems like moments they are stuffed and giddy off of good food. Lance would love to sit here and laugh with Keith all night about his shenanigans with his family and his love of food but he has a strict schedule to maintain. He pays the bill while Keith runs to the restroom (so he can’t steal the check) and they head back outside hand in hand.

 

“Okay, you won. Date competition over. Food is all I need, forever, fuck romance.” They walk and Keith sinks into Lance’s side, warmth radiating off of him.

 

“Keith! My plan has backfired. You’re going to leave me for food. No even worse, you’ll leave me for some Cuban hottie that actually knows how to cook that stuff. Dammit.”

 

They walk a few more blocks until Lance stops. He knows the venue they’re headed to is just around the corner and he wants Keith to be fully surprised.

 

“Okay babe, I’m going to need you to shut your eyes.”

 

“What, hell no!”

 

“Come on, please. It has to be a surprise. It’s right around the corner, just please,please, please?”

 

Keith puts a hand up over his eyes and grabs Lance’s arm with his other hand. “Fine.”

“Could you be a little more excited?”

 

“ _Fine!”_

 

“Oh, gee thanks Keith. I can practically feel the enthusiasm rolling off of you.”

 

They walk around the corner slowly and Lance is sure Keith can guess where they might be going just based off of the sound and crowding.

 

“Any guesses?” He asks

 

“Umm, I don’t know maybe a show of some kind? Please don’t tell me we’re going to a musical, Lance.”

 

“ Excuse you, some musicals are nice.”

 

“Yeah the ones i’m not watching.”

 

Lance makes a note not to subject to _too many_ HSM marathons, unless he definitely wants to be dumped.

 

“Okay, let me just get you in the perfect spot and then you can open your eyes.” He shuffles them around a bit so they are standing right in front of the entrance sign to the Black Lion Club, a small vintage club that seems to have a kind of cult following in this town because it hosts a lot of cool bands and acts, including the one tonight. Under the large black and purple, glowing sign is a smaller sign with the name of the acts playing tonight,

 

Opening Acts: Cosmic Renegades, The Bad Jubies, Sonic Angst

 

Main Act: Voltron

 

“ Okay, open!”

 

Keith releases his hands and Lance watches him gather his senses, taking in everything in silence. It takes him a few moments before he actually reads the sign and his jaw drops.

 

“ Lance, are you kidding me right now?!” Lance can’t tell by the tone if that was an excited or angry Keith voice.

 

“Uhhh, no?” He mumbles, searching Keith’s face for anything. Oh no, maybe he suddenly hates his favorite band.

 

It doesn’t take long and Keith is wrapping his arms around him, practically lifting him off the sidewalk.

 

“We’re seeing them? Like tonight, right now, in there? You got tickets?” His face looks like a kid on Christmas morning and Lance might actually die right here. He thinks the past week may have been for a good reason.

“So, you want to go?” He has to ask just to make sure.

 

“Are you kidding?”

 

“You already said that.”

 

“Sorry, but, just, I’ve been trying to see them since I was like fourteen. How did you get tickets? How did you even know I liked them? I don’t think we ever talked about music much because someone assumed I only listened to mid 2000s emo bands.”

 

“Heh, well the first question has a complicated answer that involves a lot of groveling, energy drinks and negotiating with Pidge. As for the rest,  I might have snagged your phone one time and looked at the most listened to playlists because I, well I just wanted to know what you were into. Besides you know aliens and mid 2000s emo band, of course.”

 

Keith is suddenly quiet, his eyes darting from Lance’s to the ground. He might say they look watery but it’s hard to tell with all of the lights and people around.

 

Keith looks up into Lance’s face with an unexpectedly soft look. “Wow, um I don’t really know what to say. No one’s ever put that much thought into anything for me before. Thank you, Lance.” He looks down scuffing his feet nervously against the crack in the pavement.

 

Lance feels his face heating up. He was totally not prepared for sweet Keith. Abort mission, Abort!

 

There’s only one way to handle the situation without the waterworks making another appearance tonight. He grabs the collar of Keith’s jacket and pulls him close for a searing kiss, right there in the middle of the crowd. He hears a couple of people holler and wolf whistle, which is equal parts mortifying and exhilarating. Time slows down and it’s just them there, under the glowing purple lights. Keith’s pitch black hair is violet and his violet eyes are otherworldly. It’s uncoordinated, alternating between hungry and sweet and Keith doesn’t really need to say thank you for Lance to know he did something right. He breaks the kiss and drags Keith into the club, high off of life.

 

He has to stop to get the tickets scanned and for the bouncer to scrape a huge black sharpie against the back of their hands, marking the all embarassing X’s of shame so no one will give them booze. But after that, he’s running again, Keith behind him until they are engulfed in the nighttime scene. Lance has never been to a concert, well not like this, the kind of concerts your parents won’t let you go to. He’s paid out the ass to see Beyonce and maybe Hilary Duff (shh it was in fifth grade). But big stadium tours are nothing like the feeling of being in a small, crowded, grungy club with a bunch of people that are your kind of people. And okay, maybe these are more Keith’s kind of people, a little eclectic, artsy, look like they can rip your nose ring out at any moment kind of folks, but hey, Keith’s people are Lance’s people and he can hang with the weirdest of them too.

 

“Ahh, Keith smell that?” He makes a sweeping gesture around him at the bar, the crew setting up stage equipment he knows nothing about, the line gathering around a shoddy looking merch table.

 

“Weed?” Keith deadpans

 

“No silly, that is the smell of victory because here I am, victor of the 2nd official Bi monthly-or-whatever Dating Games, hair as blue as can be, about to see you get all sweaty and hot listening to your favorite band and...and most importantly earning some serious brownie points which I would like to redeem for some quality snogging in the future as compensation for my valiant efforts...and also-” He takes another glance around the bar.

 

“Weed, yeah definitely weed.”

 

Keith snorts, his nose scrunching up the way it does when Lance is being a ridiculous dumbass. He kisses Lance on the cheek and pulls at the longer pieces of blue hair hanging over his ears, then drags him over to the merch table.

 

The first band comes on when they are waiting for t-shirts. Lance made it a point to at least listen to the main act a couple times before he even got the *Sold-Out* tickets, they’re actually pretty good. Kind of an alternative rock/punk band, totally up Keith’s alley and not hardcore enough to make Lance’s ears bleed. The opening bands were fair game though. The first one, Renegades something, was mostly just fuzzy guitar and fast beat drums that felt like you might be going into cardiac arrest. The second band, an alternative band with an experimental psychedelic kind of vibe is coming on as they get their t-shirts, all black with a multicolored lion that looked like it had been hand drawn by a comic artist or something. They both got one but Lance will probably still steal Keith’s.

 

They decide to stay out of the main crowd for now, standing by the bar and people watching while the third band is on, pretty much shattering Lance’s earbuds with sounds that definitely fit more into the music he assumed Keith was into from the start.

 

“That guy over there.” Keith points to another victim at the other side of the bar. They’re currently playing a rousing game of ‘figure out that person’s deal’... current category, gay or not.

 

“Oh, definitely. My gaydar is going off for sure.” Lance scoffs

 

“Ehh maybe but I don’t know if I trust your gaydar, Lance. You thought that other guy was straight until he straight up started making out with that dude he came with.”

 

“Okay he was an anomaly, and they totally didn’t come together. I’m thinking he was drunk, exploring his sexuality and maybe just found a new fuckbuddy at most.”

 

“Nah, i’d bet my favorite jacket that they were on their, hmm maybe third date at the least.”

 

“Oh based on what evidence. Now you’re some relationship expert? Wanna put your dingy leather goods where your mouth is, Kogane?”

 

“Bring it on Sanchez.” Keith gets up in his face so that their lips are almost touching. Lance almost gives into temptation but then makes a 180 on his heel and starts to walk up to ask the guys just what’s _is_ their deal when to his dismay, he sees the original subject of conversation chatting up not one, but three girls at the bar.

 

“Aww shit.”

 

“Haa, am I always right or am I always right, Sanchez?”

 

“Mullet! Shit wait, aren’t those the girls from one of the opening acts? Hey, let’s go say ‘hi’”

 

“No, Lance, don’t-”

 

“What’s up ladies?” Lance is leaning up against the bar while Keith is still holding a hand in front of him, frozen in time like someone pressed pause to get popcorn for the imminent shenanigans to ensue.

 

The three girls turn from their prior conversation, two of them making confused, possibly even disgusted faces like this is the tenth guy tonight to hit on them and can’t they just get a beer in peace, the other one though, a girl with jet black eyes and silky greyish silver hair seems to look at Lance with sex eyes. He freezes.

 

“Can we help you with something, man?” One of the girls with curly hair pulled up into two high buns on the top of her head, a translucent purple septum piercing and an array of black leathered clothes on, asks, pushing herself off the bar. The silver haired one seems to drift closer to Lance like a dragon guarding its treasure. She doesn’t seem to know or more likely care that Lance is on a date with his own fire breathing dragon.

 

It suddenly hits Lance that he doesn’t really know what to say now that they’re really standing here. He looks over to Keith for moral support but his brooding boyfriend just gives him the eyes that say ‘you started this, you deal with it.’ He’s sure to send back a very sarcastic, ‘thanks babe’ look.  

 

“Hi, uhh, you guys were on stage earlier right? I totally didn’t want to come bother you, but Keith here, he really wanted to tell you guys how awesome you were.” He feels Keith’s boot jam into the shin, but plasters a smile on around the pain.

 

He puts an arm around Keith and drags him forward. Keith’s giving him daggers but Lance can see underneath that he’s at least a slight bit grateful for Lance’s blabber mouth.

 

Keith seems to magically turn on his cool and starts talking to them about guitar models and fuzz pedals, whatever the hell that is. The third girl, about a foot shorter than Lance and Keith, with choppy bangs and brown hair that melts into blue and red at the ends, pushes into the circle, clearly happy to nerd out about music stuff then make small talk with creeps at the bar, leaving Lance to make awkward conversation with miss dragon eyes. He lets Keith geek out for a while until he can’t take the awkward looks anymore and decides to try and sneak them away.

 

“Hey, babe?” He says louder than necessary.

 

“Want to start finding a good place in the crowd?” He leans on Keith’s side, making it totally clear that he’s at least a little gay, and NOT INTERESTED (never thought he’d be thinking that). Keith nods and grabs his hand and the girl must have finally realized that they were together, her eyes widened before she gave an apologetic expression and scurried over to the bar for a shot or two. Jeesh, Lance was practically fawning all over Keith but no, a simple hand hold was what it took to get the picture.

 

The other two girls start laughing.

 

“Sorry, she’s a little…uh, you’re just her type. y'know?” The multi color haired girl mumbles. “Hey, how about to make up for it, we see if you guys can stand on the side of the stage?”

 

Lance and Keith do a double take looking back and forth between each other and the girl, as if she had two heads before Lance is nodding vigorously and jumping for joy. Keith has gone into some kind of shock mode and is completely useless.

  


“Really?! Dude, that would be so awesome. They’re like his favorite band. “ He looks at a stoic Keith and whispers to the girls, “and between you and me, i’m trying to woo him right now so that would be extremely cool if you could do that.

 

“Oh, is this your first date?” The curly haired girl, whose name escapes him, chimes in.

 

“No, not at all but he’s still super cute.” Okay, Lance can’t help himself. This is too good to be true.

 

The next series of events is some kind of weird, whirlwind of events where two dorks masquerading as cool kids (okay, at least one dork posing as a cool kid, that’s what Pidge said when Lance texted them what happened, thanks buddy) get swept up by actual cool kids and end up standing backstage to watch the coolest of cool kids play songs that basically shaped Keith’s formative teenage years. It’s crazy backstage from the moment they get there to a crew soundchecking instruments, to the band actually walking past them and heading out on stage. Lance thinks the concert was good, from what he remembers. He was mostly watching Keith react to anything and everything, completely sappy but totally worth it to see him full of life like that. He deserves to feel that way all the time, he thinks. An hour or two passes by, moments lost in neon lights and a booming bass and a room filled with people singing lyrics like it’s their personal anthem. And so yeah, maybe Lance can appreciate a little more why people never really leave this side of them behind.

 

It isn’t until they’re clearing out of the sweaty club that they can speak properly. They’re walking a couple blocks out of the way to meet up with an uber.

 

“Man, that was so cool. I’d ask you if you had fun, but the smile on your face tells me so.” Lance is swinging their arms back and forth. Keith is desperately trying to smother his grin but it’s futile.

 

“Yeah, I guess it _was_ pretty cool.”

 

An uber picks them up and they mindlessly chatter in the back of the car. When they pull up near the school, Keith starts to guide them back towards the dorms but Lance tugs at his wrist.

 

“Lance, what are you doing? It’s super late?”

 

“Come on babe, just one more place. It’ll be worth it, I promise.” He tugs again in the other direction.

 

Keith sighs, “Fine, but i’m still not going to make out with you on the Lion statue, if that’s where you’re headed.”

 

“I just wanted a quick kiss for instagram, Keith. And it’s not that.” They start walking quickly past the library mall.

“Yeah, mhhm, sure.”

 

When they get to the bottom of a hill, the secret is up. Up at the top, the twinkling kaleidoscope of colors that they went to the first day they met.

 

“Oh.”

 

Lance chuckles a little at Keith’s dumbstruck face. This is kind of a grand gesture, circle of events kind of thing. He’s a little nervous Keith might freak out.

 

They climb up the hill and find themselves engulfed in warmth and rich colors. The charms jingle sweet sounds in the late autumn winds and they seem to be even more vivid tonight. It’s amazing that a school can have something like this, something so whimsical, reminiscent of childhood, something to remind every struggling student that there is always beauty in the face of obstacles. There’s history too, in every charm and every lantern, from the roots in the ground to the illuminating trinkets. Memories of the past mixing and growing with those of the present.

 

“Uh, Lance why are we here?” Keith says, fingers brushing along silver charms. Lance is trying to figure out if this is too much.

 

He can’t let the question sit anymore.

 

“I know this is kind of, much. But, I’ve wanted to come back here with you for a little while since, well things have changed quite a bit from the first time when we were here and well, yeah.” His fingers find the back of his neck. He’s nervous. What if Keith get overwhelmed? What if he’s not as serious about all of this and Lance is pushing the boundaries.

 

“Oh... it’s a little much, but I mean, you are too, so it fits.” Keith abandons the charms in favor of grabbing Lance’s fidgeting hands.

 

Keith’s kissing his knuckles tenderly before Lance realizes that he came here for a reason, god dammit. No time for swooning.

 

“So, I didn’t just bring you here because I like metaphors and poetic devices.”

 

“Oh, really, is that so?” They draw closer, shoulders brushing the lowest branches.

 

“Yeah, but I just thought of another one because I took you to a rock concert and now we’re here which is like a big contrast of light and-”

 

“Lance, it’s getting cold out here.”

 

“Sorry. Okay, so like we’ve been dating for a month, and it’s had it’s ups and downs and stuff-”

 

“Oh, I hadn’t noticed.”

 

“Keith, stop interrupting my soliloquy, please!” He places a single finger on Keith’s lips.

 

“So, as I was saying, despite all of that, the past couple of weeks have been really, really great and I-I like bringing you coffee and your sweets fixes and arguing over superior sci-fi franchises, and sneaking stuff into your dorm room when you aren’t looking, and doing stupid shit like getting my ear pierced on our first date. Long story short, I like you a lot and I just wanted you to know that i’m happy you kissed me that one night and ran off so I could ask you on a date.” He heaves a sigh of slight relief when he’s done talking and the weight of the world is at least somewhat balanced on his shoulders.

 

He searches every inch of Keith’s moonlit face for a reaction. Keith’s giving him a soft look that is indescribable, riddled with disbelief but also gratitude and some kind of affection. Then he’s surging forward and their lips collide, starving flames devouring whatever they can and cool icy breaths taming them down before it starts up again. Lance thinks he’s never kissed like this, never felt like this, it’s magnetic. They find themselves pressed up against the base of the tree, Lance’s back finding a place in the grooves smoothed by countless people finding refuge in this very spot. Keith is pressing so close to him they can feel each other’s hearts beating and their breathes are like one. He’s out of breathe but can’t let it end, won’t let it end just yet. Taking charge, Lance licks into Keith’s mouth, the familiar cool metal of the lip ring is warming at his touch as their tongues mingle and intertwine. Their grips on each other start to loosen, bodies seemingly liquefying at the heat of the moment. Kisses turn slower until they become a small nipping at the lip, chaste, fleeting kisses at the corner of a mouth, on their cheek bones, along the jawline. Lance’s eyes flutter open to see dark grey, violet eyes staring back, pupils blown wide.

 

“Hi.” He’s speaking so quietly he’s not even sure Keith can hear it.

 

“Hi.” Keith mutters back.

 

They listen to the quiet jingling among the tree branches.

 

Reluctantly, his body is swept away from the moment by a chilling wind. He shivers, noticeably, apparently because Keith wraps his arms around his shoulders.

 

“We should go back, Lance.” He whispers and releases his arms from Lance’s shoulders.

 

“Yeah, I guess we should.” He pushes off the tree and starts and turns to walk back down the hill, still in a daze.

 

“Hey Lance?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I’m really glad you had the nerve to ask me out too.” He smiles and it radiates brighter than any lantern on that tree.

 

In truth, Lance still has something he wants to say, something he wants to ask, the main reason he brought Keith up here, but he can’t seem to find any words. It can wait. They have time, hopefully so much time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, well yep that was it. Was it worth the wait? bet not. Oh, guess what, I kind of inserted myself into this chapter, can you guess who I am??? actually, there's a couple Easter Eggs. 
> 
> Okay finally, a little briefing in case we don't talk for a little bit. This chapter is heavy on the fluff and just silly moments because I like those the best. This is probably the last of these random kind of chapters because it's about to get plot heavy coming up leading to a resolution. I've finally decided the direction this is going in and I already have bits of the next chapters outlined because I wrote them for this chapter and then rearranged things. Yay for getting my shit together! 
> 
> Oh, I had this idea while I was writing the days of the week. So I was imagining how Lance was even able to go out and get his little gifts and then I remembered how like he 'knows people' that will hide his tequila and stuff and I had the idea that Lance has little 'minions' well call them, around campus. People owe him various favors for winning bets and doing dares and stuff and even the occasional girl that thinks he's cute will help him out. So, occasionally, he'll call in some favors which may just include having a nerdy engineering kid who asked him to basically be a crash dummy for something they built, to go out in mid November and buy a Snow White themed Valentine's day card and a Chevy's gift card.


	19. Sugar Tastes Like Salt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is in a mood or sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am too in a weird mood or sorts. This was the result. Lance has lost all of the fucks he gives. Some Langst? But it's cute?

**“Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.”**

**―** **Neil Gaiman** **,** **The Graveyard Book**

 

“Lance, would you please stop fidgeting? I can’t concentrate.”

 

Lance’s knee continues to shake at an alarming rate.

 

They’re sitting on Keith’s bed, studying. Or, well trying to study. Keith called an emergency study date because Lance is actually a Calculus wizard (he can’t do mental math for the life of him, but Calculus 3 is easy peasy lemon squeezy (Hunk’s words not his) for some reason that baffles everyone) and Keith was craving Thai food from this little hole in the wall shop right off campus. Before the mood is completely ruined by the math gods, they procrastinate for a while, sharing tubs of pad thai and fried rice back and forth, wrapped up in one of Lance’s fluffy blankets up against the wall the bed’s pressed against. Lance is happy to oblige because he likes cuddles and can’t help but appreciate a little that he’s better at Math than Keith, and also, free food, because he’s broke as fuck at the minute.

This is much more their style, not that the extravagant dates weren’t both fun and romantic, but this has it’s own perks. Lance already transformed Keith’s dorm into some kind of fluffy, fairy lit haven, and even with Keith’s occasional mental breakdown over derivatives (it’s adorable actually), it’s an excuse to snuggle and pretend their problems don’t exist. It’s supposed to be no pressure, totally casual, a reprieve from last week’s chaos. Except it isn’t. Because Lance still has something to ask Keith, something he didn’t get the chance to before, something that he keeps putting off, something that this morning, had his Mama’s hand practically reaching through the phone and tugging Lance’s ear off because she just, ‘ _needs an answer, honey, quit putting it off or i’ll come over there myself and ask!”_

 

_~A few weeks ago~_

 

_Lance made his way through campus as fast as he could, tears threatening to spill at any moment. It was supposed to be a good day, no a great day, if he could make it happen for himself. Yeah it was Monday, typically the most unfortunate day of the week. And yeah, he’s been dealing with a lot of good and bad trying to balance out each other in his mind. But today, he only had his favorite class, Astronomy, because the gang’s first class was cancelled and his piloting class with Keith had everyone meeting in groups whenever they pleased for a group project. Today was just Lance, space, and then some quality time bludgeoning his friends with his sniping skills in Overwatch and eating whatever the hell he feels like. This was until his phone starting buzzing halfway through a lecture about this totally rad nebula._

 

_He slipped his phone out of his pocket and tried to discreetly read who it was from even though the phone light was pretty obvious in the dark classroom. His professor was pretty chill though as long as no one asked him stupid questions after they were caught texting. He swiped through his lock screen, which was not a secret picture of him and Keith when they did that stupid pepper eating contest, where Keith definitely didn’t look unfairly cute with red cheeks and his hair pulled up in a bun. His whole home screen was filled with texts from his mom. Hmmm weird. She normally waits until after all his sisters are out of her hair before trying to talk to Lance._

 

_From: Mama Cosma *_

 

_(1/2) Hey peanut, sorry to interrupt you during class but I have some...news and I need to figure out what to do. I know you really wanted to come home for Thanksgiving, but your sister called today from Barcelona and she wants to come home too._

 

_From: Mama Cosma *_

 

_(2/2)_

 

_I don’t know the whole story but she’s all worked up about something. And then I’ve got your grandparents coming in unexpectedly because ‘you never know when it could be our last holiday with us, mi hija’. I don’t think I can afford to fly you all home now and again for Christmas. I don’t know what to do, I know you’ve been having a tough time. I didn’t want to talk to her about it until I got a hold of you. Please call me. Love you_

 

_He wished he hadn’t read the texts in class. Now his brain is going rapid fire and he can’t pay attention to anything, space related or not. He doesn’t even want to call his mom back. Of course he’s not going to make his sister stay in another country, freaking out over something just because he needs to see his mommy. It’s not even up for debate. But he knows his mom is probably kicking herself over him and so when class is over he runs outside, finds her contact and presses call._

 

_It rings one and a half times before his mom is speaking in muffled Spanish._

 

_*” Oh Lance, I hope I didn’t interrupt you from something important. “_

 

_*“Hi Mama. No it’s fine. Nothing big, just lecture and we were just looking at pictures.” He’s silent. Maybe if he doesn’t bring the topic up, they can just chat about what he had for breakfast and Keith’s pretty hair or something and forget the problem at hand._

 

_*” Peanut, I already know what you are going to tell me but level with me here. Do you need to come home?”_

 

_“Mom, I’m not going to make Lia stay in Spain, wigging out , because of me. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.”_

 

_*”Don’t lie to me. Remember the conversation we had last week, Lance? It’s okay, baby to say you’re not. I just want to help. I think maybe if you talked to Lia about it, she would probably-”_

 

_“Mama, no. The last thing I want is to guilt trip her with my stupid problems, okay. It’s fine. It’s just a few extra weeks. I know last time we talked I had a br- I wasn’t feeling well, but i’m okay right now. Things are better, with me, with everyone here.” His voice starts to waiver, the fact that he won’t be seeing his family for even longer setting in._

 

_He’s the man of the family and even though he wants nothing more than to go home and see his family, and show them pictures of his cute boyfriend and eat food until he can’t move, and hug his Mama and his little sisters,  it’s really no question._

 

_“ I’m still not sure, Lance. Dahlia knows I don’t play favorites in this family. Just because she’s your older sister-”_

 

_He cuts her off again. He really can’t do this right now. “Ma, it’s really fine. She needs it more than me. She’s probably having European boy problems or something. Definitely more important.” He forces out a strained laugh._

 

_“Look, I-I gotta- I gotta go right now. I’ll talk to you later okay. Love you, bye.” He hung up just before he was sure his voice would give away any hint vagrant of sadness._

 

_He was happy his last class was cancelled now for an entirely different reason. He needed to be the closest place he could get to home at that moment. Here, that was in his bed, piled under blankets with his stupid, beloved Simba plushie that his little sister Calla snuck into his suitcase before he left. He plowed through campus and into the sanctity of his dark dorm room. Hunk was gone. Keith was probably studying with him. Pidge was, well wherever Pidge usually was at this time of day. He was alone and that was okay for this once. He cried. He gave up trying not to cry when he pulled the stuffed animal into his arms and melted into it. This was stupid. He was being such a baby. It’s only going to be a few extra weeks. He kept telling himself, ‘You won’t even notice something is missing and everyone knows Christmas is a bagillion times better than Thanksgiving anyways.’ It was just that after talking to his family last week, the thought of seeing them and getting to talk about everything that’s happened this semester, it was the little push he needed get by until break. But now, that’s gone and he won’t just be missing them, he’ll be alone without Hunk and Pidge and probably Keith. Knowing him he’s probably planning to go on some extreme snowboarding trip to avoid going back to Vermont. He couldn’t ask him to stay on campus with him. He didn’t want to bother anyone._

 

_~2 weeks ago~_

 

_From: Black Dahlia_

 

_Get in loser we’re going shopping_

 

_Lance was dangling off the side of his bed trying to read a textbook upside down that was sitting on the floor when his phone buzzed. It was a pretty gloomy day outside so him and Hunk were just hanging indoors, trying to get through some work they’ve been blowing off all week. Keith and Pidge were having a fiery conversation about cthulhu last time he checked in. He swept out of Pidge’s dorm just as fast as he had entered._

_Hunk, the sweet angelic beast had pulled out all the stops recently trying to cheer Lance up. He even cooked one of his Mama’s homemade recipes which unfortunately just ended up with Lance sniffling with his cheeks crammed with food like a chipmunk. Hunk took pictures, said it would be funny one day. It still wasn’t funny. He knew Keith had gotten word of his storm cloud following when Keith woke up before him, yes before Lance, by choice, with a dozen strawberry sprinkle donuts and a coffee from Lance’s favorite cafe that he was banned from. It was sweet. He put the donuts on his fingers like rings and cried while taking bites from each finger. Keith took pictures, said it would be funny one day. It was a little funny. He only let Keith see him cry that once. He decided to get over himself after a couple days of melodramatics. Now he was just mildly upset, especially when it got too quiet, so he didn’t let that happen._

 

_He extended a leg across the bed over to his pillow where his phone was blinking. He scooched it closer with his foot until it was in arm’s reach. The blinking was a text from his sister._

 

_To: Black Dahlia_

 

_Umm, A, i’m not a loser, you are. B, you’re in Spain so raincheck??, C, you haven’t texted me in over two months and you thought Mean Girls could make up for it? APPALLED_

 

_From: Black Dahlia_

 

_(1/2) Sorry baby bro but don’t lie. Mean Girls cures everything. Anyways loser, be nice to me because I have done something ingenious. You can start picking out my Christmas present now._

 

_(2/2)_

 

_Okay, so I know I hijacked your trip home and I feel really bad about it. I know you told Mama to let me come home from Spain early and i’m gonna wrestle you over it when I do see you. I know we don’t talk that much, but if you had just told me you were having issues, you know I wouldn’t have let her buy that ticket._

 

_Lance slumped even further off the bed. His mom had to go and tell her and now she feels guilty. Great._

 

_To: Black Dahlia_

 

_Lia, please don’t start this okay? It’s done. You’re my sister, i’m not gonna make you stay in Spain with your crazy (ex??) boyfriend or whatever you guys are. Please just drop it and get to the point._

 

_From: Black Dahlia_

 

_Don’t start with me Lance. Anyways, as I was trying to say, me and Cacy decided to get you an early Christmas present. We were trying to get you a flight home without the parentals knowing but for some reason all the flights from you to Miami were either booked or really expensive so we did the next best thing. We’re bringing Mama to you!_

 

_Lance read through the text three times before he completely sunk off the bed and crashed into his bedside table, bringing down its contents with him._

 

_“Awe Lance, how am I gonna get Hawaiian punch out of the carpet?” Poor, Hunk; living with a natural disaster._

 

_Lance rolled around and grabbed his phone, rereading the text again. If his sister was fucking with him-_

 

_From: Black Dahlia_

 

_No, i’m not shitting you.        Fucking telepath_

 

_We somehow managed to find a red eye flight from Miami to Cali for super cheap so we’re flying Mama out there to San Diego and you guys are gonna have Thanksgiving with Uncle Marshall and them. Don’t worry, we’re all on board. Even the little ones._

 

_To: Black Dahlia_

 

_Wtf Lia!!!! Are you guys crazy? Does Ma know about this? How much did you guys have to pay? I really don’t deserve this. What if the little kids miss her? I can’t have that kind of guilt on me! I was just getting over my crybaby period._

 

_“Lance, why are you hyperventilating right now? It was just juice, chill man.” Oh yeah, he’s not alone. Hunk’s here and the floor is...blue?_

 

_“Lance?”_

 

_“Um, Hunk yeah I’m gonna need you to hold on for a hot second. I’m experiencing emotional upheaval.”_

 

_“Oh, okay, well just let me know when you wanna go get food.” He sees Hunk continue doing his homework but he know he has his eyes on him in case a hug attack is in need._

 

_From: Black Dahlia_

 

_Lance, chill. It’s too late. She doesn’t know we’re about to tell her. Expect a call from her soon._

 

_Btw, I’m sure Hunk would beg to differ about the crybaby thing. Just cause you’re in Cali doesn’t mean we don’t check up on you baby bro._

_I gtg. Text Cacy and thank her. It was her idea. Smooches_

 

_He throws his phone on the bed and lays on the floor, spread eagle. It’s his thinking pose._

 

_After about ten minutes he sits up._

 

_“Hunk, what the fuck. You text my sisters?”_

 

_Hunk gets up and sits next to him. “You’ve been silent for ten minutes and that’s what you ask first?”_

 

_“Uhh, yeah I do when I find out that you indirectly alerted my whole family of my emotional instabilities. I was keeping it on the down low, Hunk.”_

 

_“Sorry man, I just texted Cacy. You’re closest. I just forgot that there are no secrets in you family.Your sisters are like their own special intelligence league.”_

 

_“Did you know what they were up to?”_

 

_“No. Why what’s up?”_

 

_“Ugghhhh.” He lays back down with a hand over his face._

 

_“Apparently my two meddling older sisters had the brilliant idea to send my mom over here to Cali to spend Thanksgiving with me. Which is, amazing of them, but like blehh. I feel like shit because of it. My little sisters are gonna be sad about her being gone. I don’t think they understand the gravity of the situation. Not to mention, I was trying to get over this and grow up a little. You know how much I hate being like this. I wanted to be a Phoenix you know, grow up, rise from the ashes or something. But no, my big sisters had to be sweet and ruin everything.”_

 

_“Okay, Lance. You know how ridiculous you sound right now, right?  You're not some character in a fantasy book. You need this whether you want to admit it or not. It doesn’t make you weak, or a baby, or emotional or whatever you’re worried about. It’s your mom, you guys are special. I wish I was that close with either of my parents. Look, even Keith is worried about you and he doesn’t even know the full extent of the situation. You know what he's been doing all week? He’s been working on a happy ((vibes)) playlist for you. It’s been a struggle.”_

 

_“Awe, really? That’s so, so sweet of him. That coy bastard.” And Lance is crying in Hunk’s t-shirt again._

 

_“How do you even have any water left in your body, man?”_

 

_“You tell me. I imagine this is what it’s like to be on my period, but a really bad one, like the times when my sisters synced and ganged up on me, insisting that they take their emotions out in the form of water balloons. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”_

 

_“You let them do that? It’s probably just everything catching up with you like Karen said. You do this sometimes and then you don’t cry for like a year. ”_

 

_“I hate my own body right now.”_

 

_“Yeah, yeah yeah, betrayal at its finest. Anyways, come get a Hunk hug and tell me the dets.”_

 

_Lance stayed up the rest of the night talking with Hunk and then his Mama, and then his entire family on skype. Everyone seemed totally on board with their mom just uprooting to San Diego for the weekend so he just decided to stop fighting it. That was until the conversation brought him to his current predicament. His sisters, and apparently his Mama had one condition (though it’s not like they’re gonna return the plane ticket, come on guys, loophole). If Mama’s in California, she’s in the same state as Lance, and subsequently, his boyfriend. He made the mistake of saying that he wasn’t sure what Keith was doing that weekend, and now he had to ask if he wanted to come to San Diego with him for his weird makeshift Thanksgiving with his cousins and mom. Totally not weird, or embarrassing to Lance who has spent the last week expelling all the salt water from his tear ducts onto junk food and Hunk's clothes. The only plausible explanation for this madness can be traced back to the root of all chaos, Keith. How can someone so cute cause so much trouble?_

 

~Current Time: Thursday, 7:30 pm, One week before Thanksgiving, Doomsday~

 

It’s safe to say Lance is an anxious mess and Keith might possibly smother him with his own fluffy blanket if he doesn’t get control of his body in the next few seconds. Time is counting down. He’s gotta just ask the question, one simple question. It doesn’t even matter if Keith says no, he just has to ask. Sure, it would be nice for Keith to come with him but Lance can be practical occasionally, sometimes, in rare occurrences. They’ve barely even been dating long at all, they're so new they're still peeling the price tags off. This is really soon but his Mama doesn’t care about being coy or following the dating handbook or any of the other excuses Lance fished up. Nope, he’s got to do it. Just a simple hey you wanna come with me in a week and have dinner with my mom and my cousins who I haven’t seen in a few years? We’ll probably have to sleep in tiny bunkbeds and i’ll probably cry in front of you again which doesn’t make me doubt my masculinity at all. It’ll be great. Just you, me, us, turkey.  That’ll be there..at least so that’s one thing. Then, he can run out of Keith’s dorm and hope the boy thinks he's certifiably losing it more than what's been previously documented. Game. Set. Match.

 

“Sorry, babe. I’m not actually trying to annoy you right now.” He has to physically hold his knee down with his hand to stop it from shaking.

 

Keith looks up from his work, unconvinced. He looks kind of concerned.

 

“Don’t actually apologise for it. That’s stupid. I know it’s not your fault.” He puts a hand on top of Lance’s and his knee.

 

“What’s up? You’ve been reading the same sentence for like twenty minutes. You wrote notes for some reason with your non-dominant hand. I can't even read it. I think it's alien language. Are you gonna start speaking in tongues? I thought everything’s been cool the past couple weeks, but i'm guessing not?”

 

He snatches Lance’s other hand and plays with his fingers. Keith’s palm feels warm and comforting. Suddenly he doesn’t feel so scared.

 

“Umm. Actually, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about.” He tries to fidget but all of his limbs are currently pinned down by his boyfriend’s welcomed weight.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah. It’s, well just for starters, you don’t have to answer right away and you definitely don’t have to say yes unless you, unless it’s what you want.”

 

Keith looks at Lance hesitantly. His dark eyes are searching Lance’s features for some kind of heads up about where this is headed.

 

“Okay.”

 

“So you know how I’ve been kind of um, emotional lately with my family stuff and what not?”

 

“No, really?”

 

“Keeeyyth.”

 

“Ok, sorry that was mean. I thought you were okay about it now? You seemed fine the last week and Saturday.”

 

“Yeah I mean I was fine about it but you see, there was a change of plans.”

 

“A change of plans?”

 

“So long story short, my sisters meddled and now my mom’s coming to San Diego for Thanksgiving to spend with me and her brother’s family.”

 

“Okay, so what’s wrong. That’s nice, isn’t it?”

 

“Yeah it’s awesome actually. I’m gonna have to go all out for Christmas. Um, but you see, there was a catch…”

 

“Okay, i’m intrigued.”

 

“So, catch makes it sound bad because i’m not against it or anything but so, okay i’m just going to come out and say it, just come out with it-”

 

“ If you make a Bi joke right now.”

 

“Tempting but no, actually. Although there’s always time for a good-”

 

“You’re stalling.”

 

Lance takes a deep breath and get’s it over with.

 

“Doyouwannacometothanksgiving with me?” He’s brushing whatever part of Keith’s hand he can fiddle with. _Oh god, oh god, he’s gonna think this is ridiculous._

 

“Uh.” Keith looks paralyzed with fear.

 

_He’s confused? Or insulted? Oh no he’s definitely strongly against the idea. Strongly disagree is like Keith’s default scantron answer._

 

“So I don’t know what you’re doing for Thanksgiving. I said you probably had some extreme winter sports adventure you go on, or maybe you’re going back to Vermont, but I was pretty sure you weren’t, so my Mama was all, ‘ _Lance, I wanna meet this boy you spend all your money on,’_ amongst other embarrassing comments and then it kept escalating because I hadn’t asked and now it’s getting late so just, yeah i’m asking if you want to come with me?”

 

Keith has an undeterminable emotion spreading across his face. He stays like that for a few moments before he seems to snap back into reality.

 

“Uh.”

 

“Yeah, you said that. Look, you don’t need to say yes for me, or you can think about it.” Lance stammers to gain composure.

 

Keith looks pensive. Just what Lance wanted to see. Great

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, Keith. Are you just enjoying seeing me squirm right now?”

 

“I mean, a little.” “ I just wasn’t expecting, I don’t really know what to say.”

 

“Anything at this point would be excellent.”

 

“Um, I was actually just going to stay on campus. I don’t really celebrate holidays all that often. I mean, my last family did some things with me but I usually just left once we were finished eating or whatever. It felt weird, pretending to be a family.”

 

Oh.

 

Lance can’t help it but to rip out of Keith’s grip and tackle him in his own, landing on top of him in a warm embrace. They lay breathing together.

 

“Keith. I get it if you don’t want to come, but I would be honored if you’d come eat some dry turkey and copious amounts pumpkin pie with me and my Mama. I think she’d really like you. I mean, she already kind of does.”

 

“She does?”

 

“Yeah of course. I don’t shut up about you. She ships us.”

 

“Oh my god.” Keith’s face is as red as a tomato and he’s hiding it in Lance’s neck but he can feel the warmth radiating from Keith’s flushed cheeks. “Okay”

 

“What?”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Okay as in yes, as in you understand what you are getting yourself into?”

 

“Okay as in I might be too nervous to answer this question if you ask again later but you’re doing weird things to my emotions right now so i’m trying this thing called blind optimism and hoping for the best. It’s very weird and it feels like i’m crawling out of my skin and I don’t recommend it.”

 

“Keith, that’s like the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. I could kiss you.”

 

“You should kiss me.”

  
“Can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boi, my Lance is an emotional baby when he needs to be. I headcanon him as someone that bottles up a lot of emotions and then lets it all out at some point against his will. He's got a lot going on right now. 
> 
> I wrote up a huge list of family headcanons today and outlined the rest of the chapters so now I just have to write. Lance's fam bam is cute af (I need to shut up)


	20. Taste The Rainbow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the week before Lance brings Keith home for Thanksgiving and he hopes the time would be spent frolicking through piles of leaves and doing cliche boyfriend things with Keith who would pretend he hates it all but secretly likes it. 
> 
> Instead he acquires a whole lot of other, less awesome things to occupy his time with and probably a skittles hangover if there ever was such a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, Shady's back...
> 
> This chapter is literally crack with random bits of unexpected sweetness. Awww, like a sour patch (there's a lot of candy in this chapter for some reason idk what that says about me)

Keith never really got the hang of Thanksgiving. And not even for the obvious reasons like being an orphan and dealing with the awkwardness of temporary families, or losing faith at a young age that he would ever be able to be grateful for other people when he usually just made everything happen (or not) for himself. He’s not even being a cynic about the hypocritical nature of the holiday, although he’d be happy to deliver his actual list of grievances about most calendar holidays.   

 

Thanksgiving just never really sits well with him and he usually doesn’t care to entertain it with any reasons other than recognizing that it’s rather... inconvenient. Smack dab in the middle of preparing for finals, having to deal with family members and people a month before is entirely necessary, cleaning the entire house, waking up before the sun’s even had it’s morning coffee for a claustrophobic shopping experience where it’s socially acceptable to pummel people over for a flat screen TV that’s 15% off, it's safe to say that the day is cursed before it begins. So no, it’s not for Keith Kogane, someone who would rather pretend like the day never existed in the first place as with most other days.

 

It has come to his attention however, that a certain blue eyed boy that he has come to know and has even agreed to go with on a trip for [the holiday that shall not be named], in fact, is very enthusiastic about Thanksgiving, as with unsurprisingly, every other holiday.

 

Well, at least his boyfriend was very enthusiastic. A lot can happen in a week between a phone call and a train ride. “ _Babe, it’s like the universe has a personal vendetta against my happiness! How am I supposed to service my country as spreader of Turkey day cheer when I still have like 17 million things to do and we already cracked into the emergency tequila!”_

 

Everything's gone to shit and he hasn't even met the family yet.

 

_~_

 

Keith’s been staring at the same set of numbers for the past hour. After 20 years of struggling with math, he knows that when this happens, the probability that he will actually finish the problem is slim to none, and he just lets himself space out in blatant disgust at the digits for inconveniencing him so much. He’s pretty convinced there’s some forsaken mummy magic going on with the whole Calculus topic in general, he just hasn’t found the proof to back it up yet.

 

“Ughh I can’t look at these problems anymore, I’m gonna spontaneously combust!” The restless body attached to the loud interruption slumps further down Keith’s shoulder, white flag being raised.

 

“Is it spontaneous if you are already premeditating it?”

 

“Pidge, I don’t even have the energy to entertain that sass.” Lance barks, plummeting back on the shaggy carpet from his criss-cross position to stare at the boring white ceilings of their dorms and sigh in contempt, his brain thoroughly fried and going in and out of focus like an old satellite tv.

 

Even Pidge will admit their sass levels are subpar at best right now. They fall back next to their exhausted friend, tiny pigtails that Lance had done sometime in between calculating the acceleration of a rocket going 27 m/s^2 and wishing he were strapped onto the rocket, falling out into a messy heap just as tangled as the crappy rug they rest on.

 

“Whoever convinced me to stay in school can go to hell.” Keith topples back against the side of the bed hoping to become one with it. It’s one of those so close but so far situations. These are the times when he really wishes he had been born as a cat, free to nap and judge others from afar without any responsibilities.  

 

“Alright i’m calling it. We’re taking a break.” Hunk is the last to fall out of their study circle, letting his book fall closed in front of him and pushing it as far away as possible without moving from his position on the floor.

 

“I hate everything. Please end me now.” Keith mumbles from under the edge of the comforter hanging off his bed. It would be funny if any of them had the brain power left to compute humor.

 

“Keith your emo is showing. You working on a new single?” Lance manages a small giggle and makes a 180, turning onto his stomach to rest his chin on Keith’s leg. Keith just grumbles in response but pat’s his boyfriend’s head because if he can’t end his suffering he can coddle it with the baby blanket that is Lance’s well conditioned, curly hair.

 

In a small fit of rage and frustration Hunk blasts off the carpet and starts to grab his shoes and keys without any warning.

 

“Norma’s. Lunch. Let’s go.”  He stands up staring vehemently at the three vegetables on the carpet before turning towards the door. They’ll follow once they catch on.

 

All the other's lackadaisical brains catch on at the same moment, Hunk’s unusual behavior having put them into a stupor along with sleep deprivation and general malaise so everything takes twice as long to happen. Lance and Pidge spring up at the same time using each other as support while their legs gain some feeling again. Keith remains unmoved.

 

“Come on babe, you need noggin’ juice in the form of greasy food. Let’s go!” Lance starts pulling at Keith’s sweatshirt, dragging him across the floor until he finally concedes and get’s up, pouting at Lance for interrupting his power nap.

 

“Yeah Keitheroni, Hangry Hunk is not to be messed with. He will either leave us in the dust to starve or destroy us. You don't want to experience the second option.” Pidge points out while sliding on their ratty sneakers.

 

If you looked up Hangry Hunk in the glossary of Pidge and Lancisms, you would find it under the To be Avoided section, subsection, Tested and Stamped Really, Truly, Very Bad Ideas. A rare specimen, this state of being is known to make its appearance around finals and midterms and the occasional long flight. It’s to be noted that hangriness is not always necessarily correlated to hunger induced rage. It can be manifested in realization that while angry/frustrated/in over his head/Done™, good food is the only viable soothing option lest Hunk's transformation into a beast occurs.

 

They hear the elevator ding loudly down the hall and Pidge and Lance look at each other before grabbing Keith and chasing after Hunk. They’re not gonna miss out on free food if they can help it.

 

“Wait! Bae, gorgeous Hunk of mine, you’re gonna buy your bestie an oreo milkshake right?” Lance hollers down the hallway,  and disappears into the elevator

 

~

 

“Can you believe they have skittles milkshakes?” Lance is practically hopping off the bench the four snagged outside of Norma’s. It probably wasn’t a good idea to give him this much sugar but everyone was too tired to stop him from ordering it. They just have to let it run its course.

 

Hunk is inhaling a double fudge flavor himself, rays of sunshine coming back to his face with every sip.

 

Keith is currently nursing a strawberry shake, drowning his sorrows in the PG version of a late night bar run.

 

“Norma made that just for you Lance, no one else would touch that shit. You look one skittle away from doing something really stupid or going into cardiac arrest. I’m not sure which one would be worse.” Pidge supplies from the other side of Hunk, picking at some fries and a chocolate mint shake.

 

Lance ignores Pidge and slithers over to Keith, resting his chin on Keith’s hunched shoulder.

 

“Hey Keith, guess what?”

 

“What?” _Oh boy, why did he even respond?_

 

“I don’t need skittles to-to taste the rainbow.” Lance whispers very loudly to him, snickering mid sentence.

 

“Get it, cus you’re gay? And I can kiss you all I want.” He presses a sloppy kiss to Keith’s cheek and leans back off the bench, tempting fate to make him fall, laughing to himself while his friends and the surrounding students stare in various stages of amusement. Keith shoves his face into his elbows on the table and groans. Nothing can save him from this hell. His boyfriend is delirious and sugar high, he’s gonna have a midlife crisis at age 20 studying for this calc test, _fuck you too Galileo_ , Hunk is probably going to rage at some point and obliterate them all with a textbook (just kidding, he would politely smother them), and Pidge will record it all and use it as some kind of blackmail later on.

 

Hunk and Pidge takes that as a cue to escort themselves and their milkshakes away from the table in search of a safe place from these heathens.

 

~

"I hate Thanksgiving!" Lance's voice can be heard from the pile of clothes he is currently situated under.

 

"Dude, you live for Thanksgiving. You’re body is like, ninety percent pumpkin spice latte. You're just stressed because you have a project due, and a bunch of tests you need to pass this semester with, and your boyfriend is meeting you mom this weekend, and you haven't packed or anything. Wow, that is a lot."

 

An eruption of soft blue t-shirts fly off the bed revealing a very pouty teenage boy.

 

"Wow, Hunk way to lay it all out for me. It's not like my mind was already running through the list on repeat for the last three days."

 

Hunk bites his lip and looks a little guilty. "Sorry, man. This is why you have Karen. I’m just here for the hugs and gossip."

 

Lance sits up and lets the mess of clothes fall around him. He runs a shaky hand through his hair. His veins are pumping Monster and Gusher's juice through his body to stay alive. He’s gonna need a lot more than desserts and parades to bring him back to normal Lance levels this week. Not that a little sweet slice of Keith wouldn’t help a bit.

 

"Eh, it's alright. It's not like you could make it any worse." " This week is just gonna suck no matter what until I leave on Wednesday. Everything after that is trip through the labyrinth."

 

"Oh, be quiet. Keith is gonna be fine. I don't know why you both are freaking out. Nothing will go wrong."

 

Lance launches himself over the mountain until he's standing next to his best friend, shaking his shoulders back and forth.

 

"Wait, wait, Keith is freaking out too? That makes me feel so much better, well kinda, I guess, wait No-What did he say, is he still gonna come, it's all my fault right? I knew I scared him into saying yes! tell me, Hunk!"

 

"Uhbupbupbup, nope, not telling all of Keith's business. You're his significant annoyance, or whatever, you can ask. But just so you know, I think he's okay now. He had a little freak out at first because he's never done this before. He told me not to tell you-shit! Well it's too late now, but anyways, he's cool now. I think he's excited to go now, actually. I'd say mildly terrified at the worst."

Lance fusses with the hem of his shirt and plops back down on the edge of his bed.

 

"That's...reassuring? But fine, I guess, even though i'm your best friend in the whole, wide world, your wingman, the peanut butter to your jelly, I won't ask you to betray Keith's confidence in you."

 

"Good. Cus it's hard being in the middle of this. I can't be your relationship owl forever, but I'm allowing it because you two are a mess and I want you to be happy boyfriends.

 

"Awww Hunk, you big, cuddly teletubby!"

 

"Yeah, I know and you're that creepy sunshine baby, now let's study and then i'll help you pack while you gush about Keith's hair some more if you promise to bring me back some cuban snacks and one of those cute pot holders your sisters make."

 

"Gotcha, bro!"

 

~

Almost twenty-four hours, 17 minutes of sleep, two tests, many quizzes and a glow-in-the dark solar system project à la Lance later, sees the four college students back in their dorms, still tired but in much higher spirits. It’s Tuesday evening, a day before everyone departs for Thanksgiving and they decide to have a much needed pizza night that doesn’t include any study cards or complaints (mostly). They’re holed up in Keith’s dorm for once, aka the only dorm that isn’t entirely trashed by robot body parts or Lance’s (failed) attempts at packing, chatting about hometowns and family and whatever comes up.

 

“Hunk’s lucked out on the hometown jackpot. Half of his family lives in Hawaii, part in Florida, part in Cali. Every trip home is bliss. That along with home cooking and parent’s as sweet as molasses, it’s no wonder Hunk is an angel ” Lance brags about his best friend, high fiving their pizza slices together. A pepperoni goes flying somewhere in the vicinity of Keith's pillows but no one's going to move to find out.

 

Keith’s face looks horrified and affronted for a second before he breaks into a goofy smile. He’ll kick their asses for trashing his room, but for now he is feeling some sort of way. He actually likes hearing about his friend’s families nowadays. It used to make him bitter, sad, lonely, but now that he’s knows he’s not completely alone, it’s comforting to learn more about his hodgepodge school family. He never thought he could have one of those.

 

“What about you Pidge, what are you doing for the breaks?”

 

Pidge continues fiddling through a jar with Keith’s collection of hair ties, most of which Lance bought him from cute online stores (Lance is what some might call an _impulse shopper)_ , while situating themselves to face Keith.

 

“My family, eh it really depends on what’s going on at the time. Sometimes we can all be home together, but usually at least one of us is traveling or working. My dad and mom are scientists, Dad works with the military and is usually out of the country. My mom has been going with him the past couple of years since me and Matt are busy a lot.”

 

“Who’s Matt?” Keith questions, the name sounding vaguely familiar. Did he ever know a Matt in his childhood?

 

“Oh, he’s my brother.”

 

“Yeah they’re basically twins. I thought Pidge just had a growth spurt when me an Hunk went to their house for spring break last year and he opened the door, it was trippy.” Lance chimes in, sneakily leaning over to steal a bite Keith’s crust.

 

“He’s actually 25 but we do look similar, I suppose. He’s an aerospace engineer, been working on a ship at the space station in Arizona right by the Garrison actually. I haven’t seen him in almost a year. I think he’s coming home for Christmas though, says he might invite a long time friend or something so we’ll be a full house for once.” Pidge smiles a little, unable to act even remotely indifferent about their brother coming home. They pluck a hair tie with a strawberry on it and fling it at Lance, aiming for his stupid goggles on the top of his head...they miss.

 

“Oww, Pidge!” He guffaws and is about to fling it back but decides better and starts pulling Keith’s hair up into a bun or something while he is distracted by pizza. Give Keith good food and he’ll put up with almost anything for a short bit.

 

Pidge takes in the full image of the pair before them, smirk playing on their lips.

 

“Wow, you guys are the picture of couple goals right now.” They say, dredging the words in sarcasm.

 

Hunk chokes a little on his crust, giggling at his friends. They really do look...interesting.

 

Keith is slightly decent looking, for a “I haven’t slept all week and I just want to do nothing in peace, so step off” kind of way. He’s got a star trek t-shirt on, some old sweatpants and socks with little ufo’s on them. The messy bun accompanied by a strawberry hair tie is really just the icing on the cake. Lance...well he’s a different story. None of them had bothered to question the strange mix match outfit he had put together in the race to order pizza, but now, now they have let their eyes be fully assaulted by whatever the hell you would call his ensemble.

 

Keith lets his eyes roam over Lance’s figure before he is overcome by giggles and snorts a little. His boyfriend is not amused.

 

“What’s wrong with my outfit? We’re not doing anything important anyways! Plus, I always look cute, right babe?”

 

Keith continues snorting, laughing into his hand and Pidge and Hunk are snapping pictures of him.

 

To be fair, Lance didn’t really think about anything he put on this morning. He remembers grabbing whatever he found first. Apparently, what he had grabbed had been one of the infamous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles his Grandma buys him (yes she buys him a new one every year). This one is a few years old though and a little small so his midriff is showing and it makes it even worse that for pants he’s got on tight workout leggings with a flower pattern on them. On his head sits his old pilot goggles because it was just one of those days. Okay, so he does look a little ridiculous but whatever, he originally had on a huge sweatshirt before Keith's room was hot as balls and this is supposed to be a judgement free zone.

 

When they finally settle down, Lance has started striking poses from the floor of Keith’s room, ever the attention whore.

 

“If Allura saw you right now she would renege any of your privileges as her fashion consult slash occasional instagram model.”

 

Lance and their TA Allura had struck up some kind of weird friendship over the last few weeks. After making an idiot out of himself the first couple of classes, Lance had found out Allura had quite the online following and they had a lot in common as far as opinions on beauty regiments and fashion. With a cute boyfriend already in check, he for the most part stopped flirting with her, aside from some harmless charming, and easily made her a place in his life. Technically, she’s still their TA, and honestly she puts Keith and Lance through hell during class to pick on them, but she’s only five years older and outside of class she’s pretty fun. She had asked Lance to do a few modeling sessions for her insta with some men’s wear she liked and they blew up a little. At least if piloting doesn’t work out he might have a fallback as an instagram model.

 

“Yeah sure, whatever. You’re just jealous, babe, of my ability to rock any outfit. We can’t all be bad boys 24/7” he quips, sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry.

 

“Oh sure, because flower power, turtle boy is really-” Keith is cut off when Lance’s phone starts buzzing wildly next to him. He slides it across the floor to Lance who scoops it up and starts smiling immediately at whatever is on the phone.

 

“What are you smiling about?” Hunk scoots over to get a look at the phone. Lance holds it out to everyone.

 

“It’s my little sisters, Mama gave them Thanksgiving crafts and they made little turkey hats and made a big mess all over the dining table!”

 

“Awww, is that Calla, and Fleur oh my god they’re so big now!!” Hunk squeals.

 

“Yep, Lala’s in pre-k now and Fleur is three!” Lance is practically beaming at his little sisters and they’re not even here in real life. Keith feels like his heart might explode at the sight. _No wait, I don’t even really like kids, what are these feelings?_

 

Hunk peers over at Keith who is studying the picture on the phone. It’s a picture of two little girls, one with skin a little darker than Lance’s, straight black hair pulled up into a bun directly on top of her head, and huge, dark brown eyes. The other girl looks nothing like her. She’s extremely pale, face covered in little freckles and she has fiery red hair that’s in a curly mess everywhere. They both have paper turkeys resting on their heads like crowns and their chubby cheeks are covered in glitter.

 

“That’s your sister?” Keith points at the picture, utterly confused how this red-head could be Lance’s little sister.

 

Lance smiles big, “Oh, she’s my step-sister. I guess I haven’t really told you about my sisters other than that there’s a lot of them, which is weird, I mean they practically rule the Sanchez house. But we’ve been so busy and stuff.” He laughs a little nervously like maybe he should have been telling Keith all about his family sooner. Especially if he’s meeting a part of them this week.

 

“Ooh, storytime!” Hunk settles up next to Lance and drags Keith over to look at more pictures.

 

The big guy looks almost as excited as Lance about the photo. “I want more little sister pictures! Lance’s family is so big and cute. He’s lucky he had me growing up because he’s the only boy in all the siblings. But I haven’t seen them all together in a while. Even Pidge got to see them last year without me!”

 

Pidge’s face cycles through something of fondness to distress.

 

“Don’t be fooled Keith. As cute and sweet as they can be, they are also all little demons when they team up against you, which is always.”

 

Lance snickers and starts pulling up other pictures of the girls, texting his mom to ask for a few more to show Keith, or to bring some for the weekend. He can’t believe he hasn’t done this earlier, it always makes him feel better, talking about his favorite people to his other favorite people. It’s just, family has always been a touchy subject for him to talk about with new people, especially with someone like Keith who he just wants to be happy around, because for how much he loves his sisters and Mama, there’s other things he can’t talk about, not yet anyways.  

 

“Yeah, sure I have lots of pictures. I mean, Keith’s not gonna get to meet them this time around, but it’s good to start studying now, because there’s lots of Sanchez’s to remember.”

 

He lets Keith take the phone and starts swiping through the gallery. The first one’s a big family picture of what Keith assumes is all of them together.

 

A tan finger starts pointing people out. “Okay so this is our Christmas picture from last year, yeah I know, it’s dorky. There’s Mama, and my step dad Miguel. And then in the back row is the older kids, Lia 24, Cacy 22, Me and Elly 16. Then there’s the twins, 13, Heather and Hazel, and then Calla and Fleur!”

 

Everyone in the picture is wearing a horrendous, scratchy looking sweater and smiles brighter than a Christmas bulb. _Oh that’s where he gets it from_.

 

“You guys all look weirdly the same and completely different at the same time.” Keith thinks out loud.

 

There’s something about them, even deeper than the smiles that just screams family, that makes them a set, and yet every person is very uniquely themselves, looks wise. Though, Keith would probably gamble his lucky jacket that based on Lance’s vibrant personality, his sisters share a similar hue catered especially to them.

 

Lance watches fondly as Keith studies the picture, like he's trying to extract as much information out of it as he can. They hadn't really breached the whole nervousness about this weekend topic, as Hunk suggested. But Lance wanted it to happen organically if it needed to. He knew deep down that he didn't need to be nervous and if Keith needed him for his own peace of mind, Lance hoped he would come to him for that. But Keith did seem increasingly interested in Lance's family as the week went on. He would ask subtle little things, request little glimpses into Lance's life that he was happy to provide. And Lance tried to make him feel at home before they even got on the train ride to San Diego. Maybe they both had their own ways to tell the other that yeah, they were nervous as hell, this is big deal! but they also have each others backs and won't tap out if the other one doesn't.

 

“There’s one thing all of the Sanchez’s have in common.”  Hunk says and he and Pidge look at each other with a hidden secret in their eyes, obviously goading Lance and Keith on, but sincere.

 

"Mm, yeah Keith's gotta figure it out. It's like a family tribal induction ritual." 

 

Their goading goes unchallenged by Keith though. He can't really handle much higher thought process right now so confusing Lance related riddles be damned. He'll save it for his 3 am conspiracy theory sessions.

 

He looks to Lance questioningly for help but gets a shrug and a smirk in reply. He wants to smooch it right off his face but there’s the issue of their friends being right there, and a pizza box separating them, and he’s lazy as fuck right now. 

 

He doesn’t question the comment, just kind of files it away in his mind as something important to drift back to soon.

 

He knows he won’t get an answer tonight, especially from his boyfriend who loves a secret. Just for good measure, a little wrinkles settles in his brow, and a pout in his lips to assert his mild annoyance.

 

He closes his eyes a bit, listening to Lance and Pidge as they start insulting each other in that crude, but actually loving way that confuses a lot of people when they all go out in public. It’s the thing that’s gotten them kicked out of the most coffee shops, second would be Lance’s solo repertoire of ridiculousness. He can feel his conscience fading into black when he no longer understands anything being said, which is pretty quick with them.

 

_“If you make another Sabrina the Teenage Witch reference right now, Lance, you nineties trash, I will actually use my nerf guns this time.”_

 

_“How dare you bring Melissa into this, Pidgeon? I’m honestly feeling so attacked!”_

 

Hunk goes to make wary eye contact with Keith in the midst of watching their friends lose the slow battle with delirium.

 

But, then he sees that Keith’s eyes are closed and his face is much more relaxed than any other time he’s seen him. Maybe, excluding the few times he’s caught him making googly eyes over his best friend when he thought nobody was looking. Hunk smiles weakly, getting sleepy himself. He couldn’t be happier really, not when his family is with him having their own little Thanksgiving, dozing off, being weird, getting through this first part of the journey together one semester at a time.

 

But, yeah, Lance is never eating skittles again.

 

“Make me, idiot!” they’re practically sprawled over empty pizza boxes now...arm wrestling, Pidge’s glasses pressed up against the goggles which Lance has fully donned.

 

The taller boy smirks dangerously, “That’s only hot when Keith says it.” _oh god, Lance no, you’re gonna die_

 

“Uggh, gross, man. Get your sexual tension with Keith away from me! Fuck, save that shit for when my virgin ears aren’t around to hear it!” Pidge pushes him over onto the greasy box and stands up, grabbing Hunk by the collar.

 

“Hunk, let’s go before I lose my appetite for all of this weekend.” They try to pull him up, but give up and stomp out the door.

 

An echoed, “Have a good thanksgiving fuckers!” rings down the hallway.

 

“Love you too Pidge!” Lance hollers back, chuckling.

 

“ You just said that so you could go to bed, didn’t you?” Hunk asks from his position on the floor.

 

“Yep, it’s the best way to clear out the room.”

 

Hunk chuckles and pulls Lance into a hug.

 

“Alright, i’m going to bed too, my plane leaves at 7 am tomorrow. Have a good time with Keith and don’t be too scared. Everything will be fine.” Lance hugs back even harder.

 

“Thanks, bro. I hope so. I just want him to feel comfortable.” Lance pulls away and looks down at Keith snoring softly from his seat at the side of the bed.

 

“I really want him to feel at home.” Hunk smiles back at him and pats him on the shoulder.

 

“I think he already does. And with your Mama coddling him, there’s no way he will resist.” One last pat and he’s heading down the hallway to their dorm.

 

“See you Monday, dude! I’ll update you on everything when we get back. ” Lance calls out

 

“Um, maybe not everything.”

 

Lance gasps and whisper yells down the hall, “Hunk, how dare you, not on Thanksgiving! I am a wholesome boy!

 

“Sure, love you man.” And the door down the hall closes quietly.

 

Lance shuts Keith’s door and starts scooping away some of the boxes and soda cans from the middle of the carpet, sitting them up on top of the small trash can. He goes to Keith’s bathroom and gets ready for bed with the few things he has kept here for nights such as this where the space between room 511 and 527 is simply too much. And, you know, keeping stuff in Keith’s room is special too.

 

He exits the bathroom and pulls off his greasy clothes, replacing them with his sleepover shirt that Keith keeps in the top drawer, just for him.

 

He pads over to Keith’s dozing figure and taps him softly on the shoulder. When he doesn’t wake, Lance kisses him gently all over his face until purple eyes blink up at him.

 

“Hey, you fell asleep.” He rubs circles on Keith’s shoulder, anchoring him back to reality for a second so he can get ready for bed.

 

“Oh. Everyone left. What time is it?”

 

“Just a little after midnight. You wanna go get ready for actual bed time?” He’s speaking quietly, revelling in watching Keith wake up in front of him. It’s a lot more pleasant than morning Keith.

 

“Yeah, sure, lemme just-” Keith uses Lance as support and stands up shakily, walking over to the bathroom with one eye open and feeling around for some pajamas.

 

When he comes back out, Lance has already gotten cozy under the comforters. He waits with arms open, back facing the wall, one leg sticking out of the blankets because he can’t ever decide if he’s too hot or cold.

 

Keith doesn’t need any prompting to turn the lights off and fall into Lance’s embrace. They’ve slept together many times in the past few weeks, but it always sends shivers up Lance’s spine, the fact that someone could be comfortable enough with him to fall asleep in his arms. Keith is warm all over, radiating heat from his socked feet to the warm breath puffing over Lance’s collarbone.

 

As much as he likes listening to Keith drifting off next to him, his own body wants to succumb to sleep more than anything.

 

A soft voice, ragged with the spell of midnight tainting every word, pulls him out of his descent for one more moment.

 

“Lance?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“If I don’t figure out your secret, does that mean...does that mean I can’t meet your family?” The words sound so timid and foreign that it takes Lance a minute to realize what was said.

 

His body goes rigid, holding Keith in some kind of lock hold to keep him safe. Something inside of him clearly changes at those few soft words, makes him want to protect Keith from all the fears he can only express in the safety of this space they’ve created. He’s too tired to dissect it right now, but he knows the change is there.

Instead, he holds on tighter and kisses Keith on his pulse point over and over again, trying not to mutter the words he knows are there but not ready to be said.

 

“Wh-what secret? Oh, Keith. No, no, never. It’s just a silly thing. Don’t worry about it. You can..I want you to meet them. A lot.”

 

He thinks Keith might have fallen asleep again but then his hand is being pulled up in pale hands and his knuckles kissed one by one.

 

Keith’s eyes slit open for a second to look Lance in the eye. “Yeah...I really do want to know though.” The words are drunkenly spoken, teetering on the edge of consciousness. Purple eyes close again and Lance shuts his too.     

 

He nestles in Keith’s warm hold and whispers soft Spanish in his ear,“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out, _little flower.”_

  
  
  
_And if you don’t ever, I think i’d love you still._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, well hope you enjoyed that, whatever it was. This was all just a ploy for me to write some of the head canons i've written about these characters that i've had for weeks and a little bit of Lance's struggle with managing feelings.
> 
> Next chapter is the super cute Thanksgiving trip that i'm really excited to write and hopefully will have out this weekend (although you now know my true feelings about thanksgiving). I actually feel motivated right now so that's good. 
> 
> I forgot how to write chapters with any actual plot so this was the result. This is what my inner monologue sounds like all the time, just incoherent blabbing and a lot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch memories.


	21. How Can You Really?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith goes on a trip to meet some of Lance's family for Thanksgiving. It's equally terrifying and exciting and Keith is just following along and hoping for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for lots of sleepy cuddles (because i'm weak for that), the usual Lance shenanigans, and Keith just having a lot of feelings.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song "How Can You Really" by Foxygen (who I highly recommend listening to). It relates a little to what Keith is feeling, but not exactly. I just saw them yesterday so yeah, Foxygen title, that's why. 
> 
> Song's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqW7EfA3VWE
> 
> If words are in quotations and italicized, they are being said in Spanish. Other italics are inner thoughts mostly
> 
> \-------
> 
> UPDATE 6/30/2017
> 
> Ahhh guys i'm so sorry this stupid update is taking so long. This chapter is not even that involved or important, it's more of a build up to next chapter which is the climax of the story. I don't know why it's taking me so long to write other than i'm just burnt out after graduation and I am confused about life right now. Anyways, I am working on it and hopefully the next two chapters will be posted closely together once i finally get my shit together. We have like three or four more chapters plus an epilogue and then I really want to start writing one shots set a little while after this AU. I have so many domestic Klance headcanons that I want to write short stories about.

Keith feels himself teetering on the edge of consciousness, aware he needs to wake up but not willing to actually make the final plunge. He thinks he faintly hears Lance humming next to him, something he does to try and wake Keith up without catalyzing beast mode Keith in the morning. The song is something sweet, low and groggy, like Lance is willing himself to wake up too with the melody. Keith doesn’t want to get up quite yet, he was having a nice dream about blue eyes and a matching ocean and an oasis he’s not sure can possibly exist outside his dream state. But eventually he lets his eyelids flutter open, sees a fluffy mess of soft hair resting on his chest and now he can feel Lance’s humming reverberating off his ribs. He runs a hand through curly brown hair until Lance lifts his head up and shows him those blue irises he finds himself dreaming about pretty often.

 

“Morning.” Lance sings into his t-shirt.

 

“Mhhm.” He closes his eyes again and fiddles with the old MCR t-shirt hanging off Lance. Out of all his nice-ish shirts, he decided to pick that grungy one, typical.

 

Lance lets him close his eyes for a moment before he’s peeling himself away from the warm cocoon of blankets.

 

“Babe, we gotta get up. It’s like-shit 11. Train leaves at 2 and you haven’t even packed.”

 

“No, you’re warm.” He mumbles, making grabby hands at Lance’s arms as he is climbing out of bed.

 

Lance chuckles, running his hands through Keith’s mess of bedhead.

 

“Sorry, you can sleep on the train but we gotta get up.”

 

This time he doesn’t even get a second to prepare himself before he feels the blankets being ripped off and warm hands gripping his wrists to yank him up. He feels the room shift and suddenly he’s sitting up on top of the bed, blinking tiredly, wobbling a bit.

 

Lance is standing in front of him, giggling at his disaster of a self.

 

“Oh my god, babe, you’re too cute. Quit distracting me. I’m gonna go get some coffee for your tired ass and then get my stuff together.” He plants a kiss on Keith’s head and grabs his floral leggings off the floor, jumping into them.

 

Keith didn’t really get the leggings at first. I mean, look at them. You have to do aerobic exercise just to put them on. But, you know, once his boyfriend actually wrangles them on, he is quickly awakened to the appeal of the damn things. Legs for days is all he will say about the matter (he refuses to comment on how good Lance’s butt looks in them, despite how much his boyfriend tries to pry the answer out of him. Good is the answer, very, very good.)

 

The door clicks and he is left in peaceful quiet. He wants nothing more than to collapse back on the bed and wait for the coffee, but he knows how that ends every time so he reluctantly stands up and heads into the shower to let the warm water do as it does everyday, kicking him out of this weird morning zombie state that sleep puts him in. Maybe he should like, get that checked out. _Is this normal?_

 

He heads back into his room to throw on some clothes and throw some others in his backpack, because that’s pretty much the extent of his packing. When he gets back to his room, Lance is sitting on his bed, looking through his phone in one hand, a coffee in the other. The other boy looks up at him and his face  immediately splits into an enormous grin.

 

“What?”

 

Lance starts giggling uncontrollably, making his way over to Keith and patting his butt lightly.

 

“Oh my god, Keith, these are amazing. I need a pair.”

 

Keith looks down confusedly and...oh.Oh no! Yep all he’s wearing is briefs. Buzz lightyear briefs to be exact.

 

He runs back into the bathroom but Lance is too fast grabs him, wolf whistling while trying to catch his breath.

 

“Lance!”

 

“What. These are so cute!”

 

“Shut up.” He ignores his boyfriend, and bullies him back near his dresser even with long arms still wrapped around his waist.

 

He grabs a pair of jeans and pulls them on, and grabs other clothes while he’s at it because at least someone is packing like they’re supposed to be.

 

“Oh, no, now I can’t see them!” Lance pouts and releases Keith, going back to get their coffees from the bedside table.

 

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point of pants.”

 

“Yeah, well no one needs pants when they look as good as you in Toy Story undies.” He pulls at the elastic peaking out from under Keith’s jeans.

 

Keith knows his face is blossoming red. He hides it under his wet bangs and yanks the other coffee out of Lance’s hand.

 

“Don’t you have packing to be doing instead of harassing me.”

 

“Yeah, yeah yeah. You know you like it.” He goes to leave the room but turns around with a wink before leaving.

 

“You know what babe, I’m boutta go find my Finding Nemo undies so we can match.”

 

“Where do you even find adult sized Finding Nemo underwear?” Keith asks incredulously.

 

“Who said anything about them being adult sized?”

 

And the door shuts.

 

They uber to the train station a little outside of town. Somehow even with Lance’s ridiculous amount of bags he packed, and Keith’s general incompetence at navigating through airports and train stations, they make it on board and find themselves sitting comfortably in a little booth all to themselves.

 

“Okay, so now we just have to kill four hours. Whatcha want to do?” Lance is bouncing in the seat next to him. Keith’s not sure if it’s nervousness or he just doesn’t want to have to sit still for four hours, but he’s gonna try as hard as he can not to get annoyed about it either way.

 

“I don’t know. Sleep.” He offers.

 

“Keith.” Lance whines and slumps his whole weight into Keith’s side.

 

Keith pushes him back playfully. It seems he’s not getting any naps in at this rate.

 

“I brought my headphones if you want to use them. Didn’t you bring a book or something?”

 

“Well, yeah but it makes me sick if I read on the train. Can you read to me?”

 

“Uhh, yeah no.”

 

“Fine.” He feels Lance slump down further into his shoulder, his beige fluffy sweater tickling his arms and then fingers entangling with his.

 

Lance ends up babbling about anything and everything, his family, the scenery they pass, the food he can’t wait to eat, until he falls asleep himself. Keith takes to plugging in his headphones and watching Lance snoring softly against him. He tries not to let the nervousness about what will be happening when they get off this train, seep in. He probably wouldn’t have slept at all last night if he wasn’t so exhausted. Was Lance nervous? He knows his family will be nice and accepting, just as his boyfriend is. But what if it isn’t real? What if they don’t think he’s good enough for Lance? Keith’s not sure he even thinks he is. Right now, he’s just some figment of a person that Lance has built up for his mom and his siblings. It’s not like Lance is lying about him exactly, but there’s always pieces missing, always parts inside the shell that no one can see until they crack it open for themselves.

 

He wakes up to shuffling around him and a chirpy voice projecting over the train’s speakers telling them they have arrived at their destination. Lance looks out of it, like he just woke up seconds before. They share a startled look and then scramble to collect their bags before rushing out the automatic doors.

 

“Phew, that was close. Sorry I didn’t think i’d fall asleep.” Lance is running up next to him, hauling a rolling suitcase, a duffel, and a pillow under his arm.

 

“S’okay. We made it at least.”

 

“My uncle’s gonna come get us. He said he’s waiting out by the pickup area.”

 

When they get outside, the warm breeze of San Diego engulfs them. Keith inhales deeply and a small smile tugs at his lips. It feels kind of nice to breath a different air after a while in the same place.

 

“Ohh, there he is! Come on” Lance points at a bright yellow pickup truck sitting a little down the sidewalk.

 

When they get up to the truck, the passenger door pops open and reveals a middle aged man with a bright smile on his face. His shirt has blue paint all over it and his well kept beard has a smudge in it too.

 

“Hop in boys! You can throw your stuff in the back. Sorry about the mess, just got done with my last job before the long weekend.”

 

Lance takes Keith’s bag and hauls it into the truck bed while Keith awkwardly stands next to the car. Lance returns and opens the back door for Keith before sliding into the front.

 

“So, Lance! I haven’t seen you in quite a while. Since before you went to college! How’s it been? We’re very excited to have your mom and you here again, and of course Keith, here. ” He peeks at Keith from the rearview mirror and Keith offers a small wave and a timid “Hi, thanks for having me.”

 

Lance turns around to look at him with a big grin. “I’ve been good, tío Marshall. Just mostly boring school stuff, you know. Keith can’t wait to try some of Tía’s homemade food, and Mama’s. Is she cooking stuff already?”

 

“You bet. Those two have already started the madness. Been in the kitchen all day, it’s like a mad house. I’ve been kicked out since 6 am. I had to resort to Mcdonalds for lunch, don’t tell anyone that though, they’ll have my head.” He chuckles a deep, laugh and grins at Keith in the mirror again. Keith likes this guy already, he’s a lot more fun loving than most of the father figures he’s had, all stern looks and intimidating gazes.

 

About twenty minutes later they pull up to a medium sized house that looks straight out of a tourist guide for San Diego. It’s got bright red terra cotta roof tiles and a dark yellow finish, accompanied by a bright garden outside and big glass windows on the bottom floor. There’s even a palm tree to the side of the house.

 

“We’re here boys!” Lance’s uncle hops out of the truck and heads towards the back to grab their stuff.

 

“You guys head inside, everyone’s dying to see you.”

 

Keith wants to ask if he can help with the stuff but the man is already pushing them up towards the front door. Keith feels his breath coming shorter with each step they take towards the door. Lance must sense it because he feels his hand wrap around his and squeeze a little just as Lance pushes open the door.

 

The door opens to a brightly lit room, courtesy of the giant windows, with high ceilings and rustic furniture. He’d have spent longer admiring it’s beauty if two older women, he’s assuming are Lance’s mom and his aunt, and a gaggle of children of varying sizes come around the corner and attack them with hugs immediately. He sees Lance being engulfed in a huge hug by the shorter of the women and Lance grabs on even harder, almost lifting her off of her feet. The other, taller woman smiles at Keith and pulls him into a hug too, patting his back while swatting the kids away with her other hand, yelling jubilantly in rapid Spanish. Keith is overwhelmed to say the least, but he feels a warmth inside his chest that he can’t really describe. It just feels good...right? Some of the kids are trying to talk to him but he gets temporarily distracted by Lance and who is obviously his mom at his side, still hugging, but further apart so that the tiny woman can cup Lance’s cheeks and look at him fondly. She’s speaking softly in Spanish too, probably so only Lance can hear her.

 

When they break apart, she immediately steps towards Keith and gives him a hug almost just as fully as she did Lance, squeezing him tight so he can barely breathe, but in a ‘let me love you, i’m gonna physically press my love into you like a rose into a dusty book.’ It’s a lot like the way Hunk hugs. It’s no wonder Lance uses those hugs as a life source.

 

She breaks apart from him after a few seconds and steps back, eyes raking over him fully and fawning. Lance doesn’t look that much like his mom, she’s about a foot shorter than him, and has almost black hair, peppered with a few gray strands. Her skin is a shade darker too, and she has bright hazel eyes. She does have that smile though. It’s the smile that tricks you into thinking they couldn’t look more similar.

 

“Oh, Keith, honey! You’re even more handsome in person. Just look at you! _Look at what my Lancey brought home! I’m such a proud Mama.”_

 

 _“Mama, you’re embarrassing me. Let Keith breathe for a second. Look at what you did! I think he’s paralyzed with fear!”_ Lance spouts with a big smile on his face, a glistening in his eyes like he’s not really that sorry for any of it anyways.

 

“Oh, you’re right. Sorry about that dear.”

 

Lance wraps an arm around Keith, knocking him back into awareness.

 

“Well, as you probably already guessed. Ma, this is Keith. Keith this is my Mama. And that’s my tía Jessa.”

 

Keith gathers up whatever politeness he can and offers a hand to shake. “It’s really nice to meet you Ms. Sanchez. Thanks for having me.” He says, and looks over to Lance’s aunt too, seeing how this is her house.

 

She shakes his hands excitedly, cupping it with her other hand. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you, honey. You can call me Rosa if you’d like, or Mama, whatever you’re comfortable with. Just not Mrs. Sanchez, makes me feel old. I already have to hear that enough from my kids’ schools.”

 

“Oh-okay.”

 

They all break apart for a few minutes, all the excitement wearing down just a bit so that Lance’s uncle can properly carry the bags all the way through the front door and so the women can wrestle the children back into the kitchen where they were helping.

 

Lance grabs the bags from his uncle and nudges Keith. “Come on. We can meet everyone else later. Let’s go find our room.”

 

“ _Ma, are we in the guest room upstairs or the basement?_ ” He yells from the hallway, too lazy to walk all the way to the kitchen.

 

“ _Basement, honey, there’s the bed and a pull out couch all set up for you. You better give Keith the bed or i’ll come make sure of it in the middle of the night!”_

 

_“Yes, Mama, I know, I know.”_

 

“What was she saying.” Keith just figures he won’t know what’s going on half of this weekend but that’s okay, he likes hearing Lance speak Spanish. He really only hears it when he’s drunk or on the phone with his mom. Only one of those scenarios involves actual, comprehensible words and grammar.

 

“Oh, just that we’re in the basement and I get the pull out couch. Sorry about the Spanish. I promise, we never talk about anything important with other people around, just stupid stuff. My mom always made sure we weren’t using Spanish to gossip, except for her, she will definitely call you cute around me for embarrassment purposes, heads up.”

 

“Oh, uhh okay I guess?”

 

They start walking towards an opening in the hallway that leads to the basement.

 

Lance seems hesitant to speak more as they make their way to the basement,  gripping his bags with white knuckles.

 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Keith takes a bag from Lance’s struggling grip. They round a corner which opens up to a pretty big basement, fully furnished and equipped with a big couch and entertainment system. There’s a big bookshelf on the wall the TV is against. It’s completely filled with books and movies. On the floor there are toys spread around. On the far wall to the side of the couch is a glass door that must lead to the backyard. There’s a line of rainbowed flip flops in different sizes pushed up against the door. Keith drops the bag on the ground near the couch and takes the other’s from Lance’s hands so he can’t fidget with them.

 

“Lance, what’s up? You were smiling like two seconds ago.”

 

“Uhh, I don’t know. I guess, just uh, well you just met her. That was a big moment. My mom met you, you met her, i’ve been waiting for that for a while.”

Keith sits down on the couch, careful not to disrupt any of the colorful pillows carefully laid out on it. He ponders how to respond for a moment.

 

He oh so cleverly settles on, “Yeah, and? Isn’t that good?”

 

Lance looks at him with a face he can’t decipher through.

 

“Come on, you can’t decide to stop talking now, that’s my job.”

 

Lance chuckles and sits down next to him. He sighs and then smile forms on his face. _There it is._

 

“Sorry, nothing’s wrong. It’s the opposite of that, really. I’m really happy. I just, it’s like, there was this huge build up for weeks, and now it’s here and I just don’t really know what to do with that.”

 

“Yeah I get that. Same, in a way.”

 

“Yeah, but I mean, it’s different for you. I already know my mom loves you, and my other family too for that matter. They practically already adopted you, and once my cousins get a hold of that gorgeous silky hair you have, you’ll be fully inducted as a worthy princess at their tea parties. But...I just...I want you to have a good time more than anything.” Lance’s usual bravado is nowhere to be heard in the way he is speaking now. It makes Keith want to hug him and never let go. It’s hard to even grasp that Lance would be so worried about him when it’s his family here. His family that he’s letting Keith in to see.

 

He doesn’t get a chance to say that though because a stampede of kids is making their way down the basement steps and into the room, giggling and jumping around. They come around the couch and place themselves right in between the two teens, shamelessly invading their personal space.

 

“Lance, my mom said to come up when you’re ready cus the barbeque is almost ready!” The girl sitting on Lance’s lap, with her two front teeth missing and a bright yellow, floofy sundress announces.

 

“Okay, Bea. We’ll be up in a sec.”

 

“Lance, is this your boyfriend? Our Mama’s were talking about you having a new boyfriend all morning! He has pretty hair! Does he go to your school? Does he like butterflies? Do you like butterflies, mister?” Another little girl hovering around Keith’s knees, in a similar purple dress, asks. She starts to climb over the edge of the couch and sits right next to Keith, studying him up and down.

 

“Pearl, it’s not nice to stare at people. And yes, this is Keith. Uhh, we’re both gonna be pilots. And yeah, he’s my boyfriend but I think he’s more of a Ladybug kind of guy, maybe a moth.”

 

Keith shoots him a look when the little girl, Pearl gives him a grossed out face.

 

“Uh well, I-I think butterflies are nice. Did you know a group of butterflies is called a flutter?” Keith offers.

 

The little girl seems to buy it because she’s smiling once again and bouncing on the couch next to him.

 

“Oooh, a flutter! Flutter, flutter, flutter!” She screams, running around in circles, flapping her arms around. She ends up doing so up the stairs and they can hear her shouting to her mom about Keith’s butterfly fact.

 

The other girl gets up and follows her sister. That leaves two little boys, probably about nine or ten, twins it looks like. One of them got distracted by the video games lying on the floor by the tv and the other one is shyly standing next to Lance, holding a lion toy.

 

“Hey, Lance. I missed you. You weren’t at my birthday this summer.” He says quietly.

 

“Aww, i’m so sorry. I missed you too buddy! Come here and give me a hug.” Lance opens his arms and that’s all the boy needs to come and drop onto his lap.

 

“Hey Oli, you wanna show Keith your cool lion toy?”

 

“Sure!” the boy gets off of Lance and sits right in between them, shoving a bright yellow Lion toy in Keith’s face.

 

“Do you like Legendary Defenders? This is the yellow lion, he’s super cool and nice!”

 

Keith gets bombarded by questions about robot lions and spaceships until one of the adults eventually calls them upstairs saying the foods done. After the boys run up, Keith takes a quick breather. He’s not used to this much concentrated attention, even with the world’s most attentive boyfriend. Kid’s just have this extra level of energy draining ability, it’s probably the cuteness factor.

 

“So that’s my little cousins, well some of them. Told you they’d like you.” Lance chuckles and offers a hand for Keith to grab.

 

“They’re so...energetic?”

 

“Yep. You shoulda seen me as a ten year old boy though. They practically had to tape me down to my seat all through fourth grade.”

 

“I don’t think much has really changed.” Keith gives him a smirk and darts up the stairs, heading into a crowded kitchen.

 

The backyard is easily Keith’s favorite part of the beautiful Tuscan style house. It’s quite small, closed off by a fence and tall palm trees that lead to the next door house. There’s a small deck decorated with potted plants that goes downstairs to a stone patio with a huge bench table, a grill that is currently smelling like heaven, a small bonfire pit and a pool that’s closed off right now for the season. An outdoor barbeque the day before thanksgiving is unheard of back in Vermont, for obvious reasons and Keith finds himself liking the West Coast more and more if Lance, beautiful weather and delicious food are involved.

 

“Let’s go steal a spot by the fire before my cousins get all the good seats.” Lance says as he places a hand on the small of Keith’s back and pushes him out the sliding back door. Keith doesn’t miss the smirk Rosa gives them when she sees the way Lance guides Keith around like the lost puppy he is. They grab a pair of conveniently placed red and blue lawn chairs by the fire and Rosa brings them plastic cups of lemonade and settles next to Lance in her own chair.

 

“We usually do a barbeque the night before our holidays. It gets everyone out of the house so they can’t make any messes.” Rosa laughs into her cup, eyes bright and filled with joy.

 

Keith feels like he should say something, but he’s nervous again now that it’s quiet and there’s more room for him to mess up. He just nods his head and takes a sip of his drink.

 

Lance and his mom both chuckle, communicating silently before Lance gets up from his chair. “I’m gonna go get us some food. Babe, you want a little bit of everything?” Keith finds himself nodding and looks up at his boyfriend frantically. Oh no he’s gonna leave him here alone with his mom. To bond!

 

“Okie dokie. Ma, i’ll get yours too.”

 

Keith clears his throat and tries to look anything but terrified. He doesn’t know what to say. Thank god for the Sanchez’s amazing ability to never let a conversation go quiet for too long.

 

“So, Keith, ever been to San Diego? I hope the trip went well, I know how Lance gets when he’s stuck in a car too long.”

 

He clutches the cup a little tighter and brushes the hair out of his face. Moms don’t like that, he’s pretty positive.

 

“Uh, no, i’ve never been but it’s really beautiful here. I always wanted to come to the zoo when I was little. And, Lance was just um, Lance? He tired himself out by talking too much and we fell asleep most of the way through. “

 

“Typical. Same now as when he was a baby. Always a bundle of energy. Maybe we can go to the zoo this weekend if we have time. All the kids will love it, including the adult kids.” She’s quiet for a moment, looking at the commotion happening upstairs on the deck. Someone knocked over a whole bowl of chips.

 

“I really am so happy we could make this work this weekend. My kids are absolutely bonkers sometimes with all their plans and scheming, but they do everything out of love and Lance deserves a lot of love. He’s really happy, I can tell. And it’s not just because he got to see his Mama.”  She flashes him a devious smile and stands up to help Lance who is walking back towards them, arms full of plates of food. Keith wills his face to stop pumping blood all the way up to his ears. _Shit._ _How’s he gonna make it all weekend with these people?_

 

Lance plops down in his blue seat and hands Keith a plate filled high with a mixture of typical barbecue foods and what Keith guesses are some of the prized ‘mom’ dishes. A cold bottle is pressed up against his collarbone and he flinches, looking over to see Lance handing him a Mike’s Hard Lemonade. He’s got a bottle hanging from his teeth as his hands are full and wiggles his eyebrows and waves it at Keith until he takes it.

 

“ _Oi, Lance, who gave you that! I don’t remember giving you that lemonade!”_ His mom is barking at him and Keith holds the bottle like it is poisonous. He doesn’t need to know Spanish to understand her tone and he’s not gonna experience the wrath of Rosa.

 

Lance doesn’t look _too_ threatened. “Uncle Marshall. Come on Ma, it’s the holidays, one’s not gonna hurt.”

 

“You know what’s not gonna hurt, waiting till you’re 21, you’re not even 20 yet!” She snaps back, but obviously smiling underneath her antics.

 

“Ma, please. Keith’s turning 21 in like three months anyways and it’s been a long day, I need to unwind.” Keith watches as Lance exhausts all his excuses he think of. He’s floundering.

 

She looks at him unsympathetically for a second and then stands up and yanks it out of his hands, leaving a pouting Lance and a very amused Keith. She surprises everyone when she takes a swig from the bottle and hands it back to Lance, smirking in that same shit-eating grin he sports every day.

 

Lance’s mouth is hanging open and his eyes bugged out as his mom starts to walk away with her plate towards her brother up on the deck.

 

She’s speaking quickly as she walks upstairs, “ _Unwind my ass, you’re too young to need to ‘unwind’.”_ “You’re lucky you’re cute, hijo. Keith you better tell me if my son is just spending all his money getting drunk at that school of yours. I know about that tequila Grandma gave you!” Her voice disappears as she enters the house and Keith feels himself feel lighter than he has in days.

 

He can’t help it when laughter bubbles out of him. Lance mimics him shortly after, trying not to drop his plate on the ground. They stuff their faces shortly after, remembering they haven’t eaten anything since this morning.

 

“Your mom is amazing. She roasts you more than I do.” Lance chucks a potato chip at him.

 

“Hey, no tag teaming up with her. You’re supposed to be on my side!”

 

“Sorry, but she’ll destroy us all if I don’t stay on her good side. So good luck with that.”

 

“Keith! I bring you here, I smuggle you booze, I’m gonna get all tan and dress up nice for you this weekend, and you betray me on the first night. Preposterous!”

 

“Aren’t you already tan?”

 

“Babe, you haven’t seen what this bronze skin can do. I’m like a poptart in the sun, five minutes and i’m a bronze god.”

 

“Okay, poptart, eat your food.” He watches Lance sputter at the nickname and he slides lower in his seat as the rest the cousins head down to eat with them.

 

The rest of the night is spent in front of the bonfire pit that Lance’s uncle lit for them. They roast marshmallows and Lance and Keith get the full questionnaire about school and piloting and how Hunk and Pidge are. Keith lets Lance talk for the most part, interjecting every once in awhile.

 

When it gets late everyone cleans up the backyard and Lance’s family tells them to get to bed because they have a lot of cooking and chores to do in the morning.

 

Keith helps Lance get his couch bed set up and Lance whines the whole time that they should just be able to share the bed. Keith may be reckless but he’s not risking that kind of drama, nope, nada, not happening.

 

“Alright, well good night babe, sleep tight on your comfy bed. Don’t miss me too much.”

 

Keith consoles him with a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t be dramatic, it’s not like you even sleep in my room every night.” He makes his way over to the guest room in the basement, separated by a goddamn french door like he’s some kind of princess. It’s beach themed, baby blue cotton sheets, and seashell paintings on the walls. He feels like he’s at a hotel or something. Apparently Lance’s aunt is an oncologist or something equally impressive. Maybe, he and Lance are in the wrong majors. He falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow, too tired to think about the way he’s been feeling all day.

 

Tiny voices and movement at his feet wake Keith up out of a sweet dream. He forgets where he is for a moment and when he opens his eyes to see two little girls staring back at him, he almost flies off the bed. It’s seeing Lance standing next to the bed, eyes half shut and hair all over the place that he remembers what’s happening.

 

“Keith! Keithy! Wake up! The parades on the TV!”

 

“Yeah, and there’s pancakes!”

 

“Pancakes!” They jump off the bed and head for their next target, bounding up stairs.

 

Lance falls on the bed next to Keith, groaning into the pillows.

 

“Apparently there’s a parade and pancakes that need our immediate attention.”

 

The rest of the afternoon goes by in a flurry. Keith ends up helping to set the table and entertaining the younger girls because that’s all Rosa will allow him to do. He doesn’t see Lance much as he is deemed sous-chef in the kitchen for most of the day. All he knows is that Lance is working on a dessert for Keith and he has to be the first one to taste test it. Keith finds himself smiling like a dork every time he thinks about Lance cooking for him. It’s so...domestic sounding.

 

When dinner time comes around everyone gets seated around the formal dining table that they only ever use for special occasions, Keith finds himself feeling overwhelmed with the sheer amount of warmth and togetherness around him. It’s the subtle things that throw him off course, seeing Lance’s aunt and uncle fidget with their kid’s wrinkled dress clothes, watching people pass food without even verbally communicating it, seeing Lance and his mom interact in the sweetest ways, seeing a place for him at the table. He feels dizzy.

 

Lance sits himself at the head of the table, which is some kind of tradition apparently, and Keith sits right at his side. Lance grabs his hand under the table almost as soon as they get the food passed around. He sends him a sneaky grin like it’s a secret what they’re doing. It’s totally not though, based on the wink the two older women send him when Lance is distracted with sweet potatoes.

 

Lance did not disappoint on the getting dressed up promise. He’s got a light blue, short sleeved button up on that makes his skin absolutely glow and accentuate the muscles on his arms that Keith forgets are there sometimes. His pants are some very tight navy blue dress pants made from the heavens. He even makes a bowtie and suspenders look adorable and Keith is frankly dying over here. His outfit isn’t quite as put together, just a burgundy sweater over a dress shirt and some of his nice jeans. When they came up from the basement after cleaning up from the morning of chores, the parents had shuffled everyone outside for a photo session. It was mostly as bad as Keith thought it would be, except for when he saw one of the pictures of Lance and Keith only and may have asked for a copy of it.

 

~

 

“Pearly! No eating until we say what we’re thankful for.” Lance’s aunt reprimands her daughter from the other end of the table. The little girl carefully drops the bread roll she was biting into from her mouth, back onto her plate.

 

“Whoops, sorry Mommy.”

 

“It’s okay, sweet pea. I think Aunt Rosa wanted to facetime your cousins before we eat and say our thanks.”

 

Oh. They’re gonna facetime Lance’s family and say what they’re all thankful for...in front of everyone. Great. Perfect. Totally not terrifying in the least bit.

 

Rosa gets her phone out and they wait for the screen to light up, revealing an equally vibrant table with people sitting at all corners. It’s a lot of yelling and hellos before anyone can properly speak to one another. Keith looks over at Lance when he gets hold of the phone. His smile meets his eyes and he’s completely focused on saying hi to each of his sisters individually, although his thumb never stops rubbing circles on Keith’s knuckles the whole time.

 

Keith vaguely remembers saying hello to the group of girls and Lance’s step dad on the phone, but it’s all lost in a blur of nerves and loud noises. Lance’s mom saves him from having to say too much more. That is, until they all have to take turns saying what they’re thankful for, alternating between the people here in San Diego, and the others back in Florida. When it’s Keith’s turn he freezes, as if he didn’t just spend the last ten minutes coming up with something to say while everyone else was going. He feels all eyes on his and just decides, _Fuck it_.

 

He fiddles around with his napkin and makes the mistake of glancing at Lance for a second, seeing him giving him a face he is unfamiliar with. It’s sickeningly sweet, but encouraging, a nudge to go on, it’s okay.

 

He clears his throat and hopes words come out, “I-I um, well for starters, I just wanted to say thank you again to you all for having me, it’s uh it really means a lot. I’ve never really had something like this before, I was, I didn’t know what I missing out on. Your family is really welcoming and so thank you for that.” He pauses, taking a deep breathe and seeing that everyone is smiling at him. He wants to say something about Lance even though he could never express how truly thankful he is for Lance squeezing himself into Keith’s bubble and refusing to let go, even though Keith hasn’t deserved it time and time again.

 

His face must have revealed that he has more to say because he catches Lance’s uncle nodding to continue. He feels his face tingling, probably turning an angry red that matches the cranberries on the table and he looks down at his lap, at the soft hand weaving around his. Courage finds itself in him again so he speaks up.

 

“I’m also thankful for this guy right here and for you guys finding a way for him to be here even though he can’t be home.” He shrugs his shoulder towards Lance who blushes furiously at the unexpected attention.

 

“I- we weren’t sure how to cheer him up when he couldn’t go home for the holiday and I know that’s because he loves you guys a lot. I knew he’d be okay because he’s pretty good at that, finding good in the little things, but uh this is better than okay? So thanks for making him happy, he really deserves to be.”

 

A huge weight feels like it has been lifted off when he finishes speaking. He’s not entirely even sure what came out of his mouth but he hopes it sounded as sincere as it felt, and somehow made up for how embarrassed he felt about saying it in front of all these new people.

 

It’s not until he looks up from his lap and sees the way the adults are staring at him, eyes glistening with mirth, and the little kids are snickering and giggling at the boy beside him, that he looks over to Lance.

 

His first thought is _Oh god, what did I say? Did I fuck up?_ His second thought is that Lance looks like he’s gonna pass out in his potatoes any second. Lance’s cheeks are bright pink and his blue eyes are darting anywhere but at Keith’s. His leg is bouncing violently under the table and his other free hand is destroying the bowtie he spent twenty minutes getting perfect this morning.

 

Once again, Rosa comes to the rescue. Not without milking the moment a bit first.

 

She chuckles at the other end of the table. “Lance, honey, you’re looking a little pink over there. You sure you weren’t stealing sips of my wine again?”

 

He looks up at her, eyes pleading for mercy and she gives it to him after another giggle.

 

“You can take your turn later.” Keith sees him deflate a little in his chair and he messes with his perfectly coiffed hair for the gillianth time.

 

“Yeah, yep. Sounds good. Later.”

 

The phone call ends shortly after that and everyone digs into the food, trying a little bit of everything and chatting about Christmas plans. Keith is worried when Lance still hasn’t said anything after he spoke but about five minutes later Lance is nudging him and his hand is hovering over his plate, fork rearranging the food carefully. He gives him a questioning look but Lance is undeterred. He keeps moving everything around until there is a messy heart formed out of peas sitting on top of everything else. He shoots Keith a grin and nudges him in the shoulders.

 

“You’re gonna kill me if you say something like that again.” He whispers, cheeks still lightly stained pink.

 

“Oh. Well, sorry?”

 

“Keith! No, you’re making it worse. Quit being such a cinnamon roll, i’m dying here.”

 

Keith tries to ignore the comment and resumes eating, but there’s a crooked smile he can’t seem to get rid of no matter how much delicious food he crams in.

 

Everyone watches football in the living room after dinner. Lance has Keith steal them spots on one side of the couch while he grabs the dessert he made. All the kids are running around playing tackle football outside on the deck and the parents are so involved with the game that they don’t even notice when Lance plants himself on Keith’s lap, holding a plate with two slices of some kind of cake.

 

“Prepare for the best cake you’ve ever eaten, babe.” Lance hands him a plate and makes himself comfortable, leaning on the armrest and feet tucked in the couch on the other side of Keith.

 

“You sound pretty confident. You know, I have had Hunk’s chocolate fudge cake before.”

 

“Okay, so this might come in a close second to Hunk’s fudge cake, because that thing is just, a sin. But I think this gets extra ‘made with love’ boyfriend points, right? So it’s better by default.”

 

“Everything Hunk makes is with love, Lance.”

 

“True. You got me there.”

 

Keith has to eat with his left hand, as the other one is making sure Lance doesn’t fall off the couch. He really is too big to be sitting like this. Keith’s obviously used to it enough that he immediately goes into ‘make sure Lance doesn’t do something clumsy and die’ mode.

 

He stabs a fork through the slice, it has a softer layer on the top, covered in a caramel looking glaze, and then the bottom is more like regular chocolate cake. He takes a big bite, knowing that Lance is watching him for his first reaction.

 

It’s an odd texture at first but when the flavors mix together and caramel melts in his mouth, it’s bliss. He closes his eyes and enjoys it for a second, melting into the couch.

 

Lane starts giggling next to him and he remembers that he’s literally sitting on top of him, waiting for a reaction.

 

He can’t even play coy, he totally just gave away how good the cake was.

 

“What was that?” He’s already shoving another bite in his mouth.

 

“Chocoflan! Aka, my favorite childhood dessert, aka the only flan I will eat because normal flan weirds me out, it’s too jiggly. ”

 

“You made this?”

 

“Well, duh! I slaved away on it all day! How dare you question my chocoflan making skills!”

 

“It’s suspiciously good. You sure your mom didn’t help?”

 

“Wha- no way! Hey Mama, tell Keith I made this for him all on my own!” He’s yelling across the living room at his mom who is currently entranced in the game in front of her, head less than a foot away from the screen and her little hands clutching a throw pillow.

 

She mutters something in Spanish and tears her head away from the game, looking over at Lance and suddenly seeming a lot more interested.

 

“What did you say, peanut? Sorry this is a close game.”

 

Lance doesn’t look remotely uncomfortable at his mom making doe eyes at the two of them. Maybe he’s just too oblivious to even notice.

 

“Keith doesn’t believe I made this cake for him by myself.” He pouts.

 

“Oh, the chocoflan! Did it come out good? Yes, Lance is actually quite good at baking and this is a recipe he’s been working on for years!” She snags Lance’s fork and takes a bite, eyes lighting up.

 

“Mhhm, I think this is the best one yet! Probably because you were dancing about and singing about makin it with extra l-”

 

“CARAMEL! Extra, extra caramel because Keith has a sweet tooth, yep. _Songs about caramel_.” He singsongs, breaking into some half assed lyrics about chocoflan and sugar lips until Keith and Rosa are laughing hysterically.

 

Eventually everyone either falls asleep on the couch in the living room, or has retreated to their beds, stomachs full and thoughts dizzied by wine and apple cider. Keith dragged Lance downstairs when he started dozing off in Keith’s arms and the other boy grumpily tucked himself into his couch bed after claiming Keith was a meanie for moving him.

 

Keith tries to fall asleep for what seems like hours but unlike the other two nights when exhaustion lulled him to sleep before his thoughts could keep him awake, he lies there with a clouded head. At this point, there’s so many confusing emotions and raw feelings and fresh memories and old nightmares haunting him that he can’t distinguish one clear idea from another. It’d be easy to just try and forget everything and enjoy what’s right in front him, there’s so much to there to work with. But Keith has never had anything happen easily for him, and his mind likes to take the winding labyrinth instead of whatever bridges he builds up. This weekend has gone better so far than he ever could have imagined. It doesn’t feel fake, it doesn’t feel forced, it feels real. But how can he know what real is in this scenario? How can he know what a family feels like when he’s never been a part of one? What if he goes back to school and Lance realizes that the boy he wanted to bring home isn’t the boy he wants to _call_ home?

 

This happiness, this bubble, it can’t last forever, right? Good things always die and as much as Keith doesn’t want this good thing to ever leave, it seems inevitable with his track record. Lance will wake up one day and realize that the guy he likes or l-loves, _god he can’t even entertain that option right now_ , that that guy isn’t what he built him up to be for his family, isn’t what he planned on bringing home. He’s broken and unstable and fooling people that he’s flying when he’s barely off the ground.

 

That shell Keith puts on his back every day, it isn’t like Lance’s. Keith doesn’t want to fool anyone, not in any way other than that the translucent, cracking shell he visibly dons is broken but still working. Keith will wear it down to the last fragment before he falls and he knows people see that from the outside in, but he needs it. Lance, he wears a sparkly, vibrant shell all the time. Not to trick people or appear fake, but to amplify what he sees as good and maybe distract from the bad, to find the good in the little things and hide from the pieces that scare people away. Maybe Lance just needs someone who’s beautiful without the shell so that he can believe he is? Keith doesn’t know how to be that.

 

But then again, Keith doesn’t know what he’s thinking about, what direction his thought train is trying to go in, what outcome he is even looking for. Everything is disconnected, lighthouses all guiding him in different directions so he has no idea how close the shore is. A little image of Lance as a hermit crab with a glittery blue shell and stickers pops into his mind and he’s sure he’s just delirious at this point. He's hit his breaking point for trying to find sleep tonight.

 

A very groggy Keith stumbles out of his room and quietly passes the snoring boy on the couch, feet tangled in sheets and face pressed into his hands. He watches him for a second before darting upstairs to the kitchen to get a drink or something. He gets a glass of water and wants to take it out on the deck to watch the stars but the sliding door might wake up the house so he just sits at the island counter silently. He sits watching the clock on the microwave blink, not even noticing someone walking into the kitchen and going to the fridge until they stop right in front of him.

 

He jumps a little when a small hand sits a plate of Lance’s cake and a carton of ice cream on the counter.

 

“Can I join you? After midnight’s when everything tastes the best isn’t it?” Rosa speaks quietly and waits for Keith to nod before she sits on the stool next to him.

 

She hands him a spoon and pops the ice cream carton open, pushing it towards him. They pick at it in silence, Rosa clearly waiting for Keith to speak if he wants to, and gives him quiet if that’s what he needs.

 

He decides to bite.

 

“Mrs.Sanchez-um Rosa?” The words come out with no consideration of the inevitable conversation to follow.

 

“Hmm?” She says around a bite, trading the cake slice with Keith for the ice cream.

 

“Do you-do you think it’s okay to be with someone, like to fully give yourself to them when...when you aren’t sure if all you have is enough? Like if it’s broken, should you give it anyways?” _Shit. What is he doing? Why is he saying this to her he's not even being remotely vague? Why is he even comfortable saying it? He’s barely known her a day but somehow she feels safe. Lance is a piece of her and she feels like a safe haven, something entirely new to a kid like Keith._

 

“As long as you give them as much as you possibly can, I think that’s what’s important. You can’t give more than you have.” She puts down her spoon and gives him her undivided attention now, giving him the okay to let it out, whatever this is.

 

“But is it _fair_? Especially if they give so much more? Is it-it’s not fair.” He finds his resolve slipping and he tries to hold onto whatever sliver of strength he has not to break down in front of her. Being in this house is doing weird things to his mind and heart.

 

“Fair...hmm?”  “What’s ever fair? I sound like some old prophet or something saying that. I don’t think I can really say what’s fair or not, but can I ask you a question?”

 

He nods so hesitantly he’s not sure she can see it, but the silence speaks for itself.

 

“How do you know that someone has more or less to give than you, sweetie? Isn’t that what’s great about loving someone, there’s no limits. You grow together and it may be at different paces, but as long as you’re going in the same direction, why not go along for the ride?”

 

“But?” He starts.

 

“Just a second, sweetie. I’m gonna level with you here because I’ve done this many times with my son and I can only play yoda so long before you need to hear the answers you’re really asking for. You can ignore me if you want, but just listen.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“I know I don’t know you much outside of what my son has told me about you, but I know that everything hasn’t been easy between you two. I was so-so angry and worried when Lance told me he got in a fight at school and was dealing with a problem he thought he was over with. I stayed on the phone that night with him listening to whatever he wanted to say about you and his own problems. Even for me it sometimes takes a while to hear what Lance is speaking and what he is _saying_. I didn't know what to tell him to be honest. I've felt so many times that I can't give him enough as a mom, but I'll never stop trying.” Keith stifles a sharp breath, reliving his horrible actions and struggling to imagine Rosa being anything but a great mom.

 

“But, then, you all acted like adults and got through it and look at what has come from that! On the mom code of honor, I can’t tell you what Lance has divulged to me but what I can say is that he cares about you so much and that’s not something to take lightly. Lance is beautifully empathetic and his heart is so big I worry all the time someone will break it again, but he’s not perfect, he’s not some untouchable thing, Keith. He gives a lot, but he has so much more he needs to grow from too, maybe in some of the same ways you think you need to. I can’t tell you how to make that happen and I can’t convince you that what’s holding you back is fixable, but I can tell you that it’s sure nice to have someone along the journey, right? I have a feeling Lance wants someone to walk along with him, not someone to wait for him at the finish line.”  She places a delicate hand on Keith’s shoulder and starts to clear away the plate and ice cream.

 

He doesn’t know what to say, if he could make words come out even if he tried. It’s not the instantly gratifying answer his confused mind wanted. A yes, or no, a wrong or right. She gave him more to think about and work out on his own and that’s a lot more advice than most people bother with him. He stands up from his chair feeling lost and then warm arms wrap around his middle and pull him into a hug. He eventually melts into it and it’s almost comical how short she is compared to him but it doesn’t feel any less inviting.

 

Some time later he is being scooted back downstairs with a glass of water like Cindy Lou Who on Christmas Eve and without even thinking about it he forgoes his bedroom for the mess of blankets and the boy hidden underneath of them on the couch bed. He sits the water on the coffee table and pulls back the blankets, sidling up against Lance’s warm back and pulling him as close as he can. Lance seems to pull even closer in his sleep and it takes only moments before Keith is drifting off, using him as an anchor to catch his uneasy breaths.

 

~

 

When Keith wakes up the next morning, it’s to Lance soothing his fingers through his mess of hair, fingers occasionally catching in tangles which is what wakes him up. It’s been growing out all semester and it’s getting quite long but any mention of cutting it and Lance suddenly can’t remember ever making fun of the unruly locks before.

 

“Morning blanket stealer.” Blue slitted eyes are looking amusedly at him.

 

He tries to bury his face back into Lance’s chest but it’s futile and he gets tossed over onto his back so Lance can pin him with a leg.

 

“What made you come to the dark side, Keith, couldn’t stay away from my cuddliness?”

 

“No, I probably just got confused going to the bathroom last night and thought this was my bed.”

 

“Mhhm sure, babe.” Soft lips paint kisses all over his face and he doesn’t have the energy to fight it. He doesn’t really want to.

 

“Anyways, everyone else went shopping this morning for Black Friday but my mom texted me that she saved us from the little kids when she saw we were sound asleep. Not sure why she was feeling so generous, but i’ll take it.” He releases Keith and lays next to him so that they’re both just staring up at the ceiling, waking up and drawing words on each other’s palms.

 

They end up having most of the day to themselves. After getting up and eating leftovers for breakfast, they throw on some casual clothes and go look around town for a little bit. Lance shows him all of his favorite nearby shops and places that he can remember from last time he visited, including La Jolla beach which unsurprisingly is his favorite spot. Lance practically rips Keith’s arm off pulling him to the edge of the cliffs when he sees that the seals are there today. Lance’s excitement is contagious, even to strangers around him. A group of kids and their parents gather around them when Lance starts dancing to street music, pretending like he’s having a dance off with this lazy seal that’s chilling on a rock. Keith gets to be the judge and the seal ends up winning by a landslide.

 

The last thing they have to do apparently is buy one thing together for Black Friday. Despite Keith’s refusals, Lance drags them into a Bed, Bath and Beyond, and they decide on a toaster because it’s 60% off and it ‘seems like an adult thing to buy.’

 

~

 

Saturday is the last day they have to really spend any time together because the train leaves at 7 am on Sunday so they can get back and have time to prepare for classes. Keith heard Lance giving everyone a debriefing on the ‘wrath of morning Keith’ so that they can avoid him at all costs.

 

They’re all planning on trying to go to the San Diego Zoo for the day because it’s something everyone was game for. Keith is secretly really excited. One of the few good memories he has of one of his childhood foster families was them taking him to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, when he was 6. He left that place completely infatuated with the wild animals and he went through a whole year where all he would read and watch was books about animals and Animal Planet. He still has a stuffed Tiger somewhere back at his latest home that he got that day at the zoo as well as a list of Zoos he wanted to visit. At the top of the list, the biggest and best, and the one he never thought he’d get to, always having lived on the East Coast, the San Diego Zoo.

 

Around ten years old, his obsessions had almost completely shifted from animals to the stars, but that doesn’t mean that 20 year old Keith is any less excited to cross one of the more mundane goals off his bucket list.

 

The parents have all the little kids lined up at the front door, noses coated in sunscreen, backpacks filled with snacks (only animal themed of course), and outfits that they couldn’t ruin too much. Lance and Keith are the last to come upstairs because Lance needed to look cute for pictures and Keith isn’t allowed to dress like a "complete emo" at the zoo, according to his boyfriend. 

 

‘We’re going to the zoo babe, not the mosh pit.’ Lance comments as he throws a colorful shirt at Keith’s face and a pair of gray cut off jeans.

 

They head upstairs to a room full of pouty faces.

“What’s the matter guys?” Lance pants, throwing down his and Keith’s backpacks on the floor.

 

“It just started raining! Now we can’t go to the zoo, Lancey!” The little girl Bea exclaims, grabbing onto her cousin’s legs and stomping around.

 

“Sorry, guys, the weather was supposed to be clear and sunny all weekend. We might have to find something else today.” Lance’s uncle opens up the front door, revealing a gray sky and a decent amount of rain coming down.

 

“Nah, we can still go! Come on, it’s just the rain, just a little water.” Lance says immediately, going out on the porch and putting his hand out to demonstrate his point.

 

“Lance, just because you’re half mermaid doesn’t mean everyone else wants to go stand in the rain all day.” Rosa gives him a look and glances over at Keith, to gauge his reaction. He kind of just shrugs, not getting involved in family politics.

 

“Come on tía Rosa! It will be fun!”  “Yeah, Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!” The children are all chanting at this point and Lance joins in, egging them on.

 

It only takes a couple bats of those blue eyes before everyone is donning bright colored raincoats and packing up in the car. Keith has to borrow one of Lance’s uncle’s. It’s bright red and so big on him that the sleeves cover his hands.

 

“Those sweater paws...raincoat paws? Are really doing a number on me Keith. It’s too cute!” Lance comments once they pile out of the car and Keith has to pull up his hood. He looks ridiculous is what he looks.

 

“Shut up.” Keith grumbles. Lance looks a lot cuter in that polka dot raincoat he borrowed from his aunt, but Keith’s sure as heck not gonna tell him that.

 

They make their way through several of the exhibits, taking tons of pictures and watching the kids imitate the animals at every one. After about an hour or so, the adults decide that they’ve had enough of the rain for a bit so they find a cafe to hang out in with the girls and leave Keith and Lance to take the twins around. It turns out they’re pretty easy to babysit once Lance buys them each a huge messy ice cream cone and sits them in front of the elephants.

 

“Why do I feel like your babysitting techniques are eerily similar to how you bribe me.” Keith notices, as they sit on a shaded bench within eyesight of the younger boys.

 

“Oh, heh, I mean, give a little kid candy and they’ll do anything you want.” Lance smirks down at him and then at the fluffy pink cotton candy in his hands.

 

Keith takes a hesitant bite, looking back and forth at Lance suspiciously like he can’t figure out if he’s more annoyed that Lance is right or that he figured out how to bribe him so fast.

 

Lance breaks into a contagious laughter that has Keith breaking down right next to him and then they’re sharing chaste kisses from under the hoods of their coats. It tastes like rain drops and pixie dust and Keith is giddy. For a few minutes it’s just them and the pitter patter of tiny drops splattering around them, washing away the small crowds around the exhibit and the fears that clouded Keith’s head.

 

They leave the zoo soggy and exhausted and ready to call it a night, but not any less happy because of any of those things. The car ride home is almost silent as everyone is either already passed out or in the process of dozing off. Keith feels his eyelids drooping but not quite capable of fully descending. Lance is leaned up against him with an otter stuffed animal tucked under his hand on Keith’s thigh. Keith bought him it. It was maybe a little adorable when Lance picked it up and started snuggling it in the store and who is Keith to deny him that happiness? He almost bought him all of the otters to be honest.

 

Keith didn’t want anything for himself, just pictures and the memories were good enough for him. That’s what he said when Lance tried to buy him something and before Rosa snuck a tiny stuffed tiger toy into his backpack that he didn’t notice until they sat back in the car.

 

She turns around in her seat on the way home to see that Keith is the only one awake out of all the younger ones. She’s pointing at Lance and making faces and Keith tries not to actually laugh out loud and wake up his sleeping boyfriend or the drowsy kids.

 

They pull up into the driveway and start dragging kids out of their seats. The twin boys seem glued to each other in the middle seat and they walk up the porch steps side by side, partially sleep walking together. It’s odd and something Keith imagines is solely capable by twins. The girls get scooped up by their parents and Rosa grabs all the bags and jets out of the car with a smirk, leaving Keith to either wake Lance up or try and carry him in. He nudges him a few times but Lance only curls up closer so he decides to bite the bullet. He pulls himself out of Lance’s grip and steps out of the car, thanking the heavens it’s not still raining. He somehow manages to wrangle Lance out of the seat and into his arms so he can carry him bridal style towards the front door. He’s muttering under his breath at the sleepy, dead weight in his arms.

 

“I can’t believe I’m carrying your heavy ass from the car like a five year old.”  

 

By the time he gets through the front door and to the entry hallway he’s struggling a bit. Lance is deceivingly heavy for someone so thin. He’s not sure he can make it all the way down the basement without killing himself or Lance so he carefully lays him down on the couch and makes a space for himself in the small part of the cushions not taken. He scrolls through his phone for a bit, replying to a couple texts from Hunk and Pidge asking how it’s going. Then there’s the messages from Shiro that he still hasn’t looked at. He quickly exits his messages when he starts wondering what Shiro is doing for the holidays. Not thinking about Keith, that’s for sure.

 

He spends the rest of the night in a daze that he can’t really figure out. It feels almost melancholic if he had to pick. When Lance wakes up they decide to have a movie night downstairs with junk food and a Jurassic Park marathon. They convince Rosa to watch one with them because she’s never seen it before and Lance wants to watch her reaction. It doesn’t disappoint. She just about dumps a bowl of popcorn on them when the T-Rex pops out. Keith falls asleep sometime during the third movie. He vaguely remembers Lance with both his mom and Keith resting on each shoulder and feeling a lot more calm than he should be while watching raptors tearing apart helpless people on an island.

 

Keith wakes up to a phone alarm with a crook in his neck and realizes it’s because he slept pressed up against Lance’s side the whole night. There’s a soft blanket spread out on top of both of them, probably put there whenever Rosa went upstairs. Despite the uncomfortable ache, waking up this way is nice. He really likes seeing Lance first thing in the morning and the fact that it’s been happening a lot recently makes it harder to imagine not experiencing it everyday.

 

Lance is shifting next to him and darts awake when he connects that the phone alarm means it’s 4:30 am and they have two hours before their asses need to be sitting on a train. Soft morning cuddles aren’t really an option right now and Lance is out of the blankets and in the shower before Keith’s brain even processes what it means to be awake and not comatose at this time of the day. He goes upstairs in search of some coffee and discovers that it’s really weird being in someone else’s house this early when no one else is awake. The kitchen is eerily devoid of the color and chaos it normally hosts and he’s sure that if he opened the doors to the back deck he’d find out what a liminal space feels like.

 

Before he knows it they’re standing in the entryway, bags in tow, saying goodbye’s. Lance is clutching onto his mom with all the feeling in his bones and it breaks Keith’s heart but he knows they probably do that in casual moments too. Lance’s aunt and uncle are there to say goodbye and they tell Keith he is welcome anytime to come back and that the kids would like it. The little ones are hugging his legs, sleepy and still in pajamas. The twins look sad that the older boys are leaving and Lewis, the quieter of the two and a promising angsty teenager in the making (who Keith totally didn’t introduce to Fall Out Boy), clings onto Keith’s leg a little longer than the rest.

 

The last of the hugs is Rosa. She tackles Keith with those small arms and he knows in that second what it must feel like to be loved by a mother...that’s what it has to be. It’s indescribable. She pulls him down and whispers in his ear before backing away to wipe her eyes quickly. They are quickly bustled out the door and back into the pickup truck to head to the train station.

 

Lance is mostly quiet the whole way there and onto the train. Keith expected it. It doesn’t make it easier to watch him.

 

“It’s only a few more weeks till winter break.” Keith tries once they’re about a half hour into the ride.

 

Lance nods, dragging a hand over his face before drawing a small smile for Keith.

 

“Yeah, I know. It’s just, you know. It sucks when things end.”

 

“Yeah, it does.” Keith says honestly. Lying and sugarcoating just doesn’t seem appropriate with Lance. He kisses the back of Lance’s hand and leans back on the plush train bench to shut his eyes.

 

“Hey, Keith?”

 

“Mhhm”

 

“What did my mom say to you before we left. She whispered something to you while I was crying like a baby?”

 

“Hmm?....Oh. S’a secret, can’t tell.” He shuts his eyes and pretends to fall asleep before Lance can pester him more. Yep, not giving that away so easily.

  
“Keith? Keith, I know you’re not asleep! Keith, Babe! Come on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! We are on the way to the finish line. The apex of this story is approaching fast and then I can be done and free to work on other fics! 
> 
> Also lowkey when you're trying to come up with some sweet metaphors and you end up making them sound like hermit crabs
> 
> I am working on a one shot I think you guys will like so let's hope that's done soon. It's hard writing one shots where you can't just ramble on and on with no purpose like I do with this story.


	22. In Your Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance reluctantly realizes he's not in fact a psychic and Keith's tarot cards are an enigma. 
> 
> Also in which absolutely nothing happens at all, and yet everything does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, in which I talk about pasta for a very long time so if you don't like carbs you can step off ;)
> 
> Heh, heh, this chapter is not worth four months of "work." If you guys had to pay for this stuff, I wouldn't even accept the dryer lint in you pocket as payment because that would just be robbing you.
> 
> However, thanks for reading and sticking around. Almost a year later and I'm almost done with this experimental beast.

“You guys bought a toaster together? That’s so domestic!”

 

Lance throws his upper body over the study table he and Hunk are currently occupying in the central campus library, clasping a hand over his best friend’s uncontrollable blabber mouth.

 

“Hunk, shhh, you’re gonna get us kicked out of the library and I can’t afford to get kicked out of this one! It’s got the only good books on space.” He looks around nervously for any authority figures coming his way as they seem to be attracted to him like a moth to a flame. He’s (almost) unabashedly familiar with the series of events preceding someone asking him to ‘kindly vacate the premises’(and never come back).

 

“You and I both know you couldn’t care less about getting kicked out of a public library. You just don’t want to admit it was super cute and domestic that you and Keith bought a toaster on Black Friday together!” Hunk starts off whispering but ends up crescendoing into an over joyous shout by the tail end of his sentence. He’s making it clear that he has absolutely no problems with the repercussions of teasing his best friend.

 

People looking over at the two watch with amused smirks hidden behind dusty books. People love to watch displays of public embarrassment as long as it’s second hand and by the shade of crimson painted high on the lankier of the two’s face, there’s no hiding it from anyone. 

 

Lance covers his blushing face under the pages of a book on solar storms he’s been hopelessly flipping through all afternoon, sliding down further into his seat. 

 

Hunk starts to prod at his sleeve, trying to goad him some more into spilling, but gives mercy at the sight of an oncoming librarian. Lance’s  _ favorite  _ Librarian to be exact. 

 

“You done with that book yet? I wanna go get coffee so I can get through this essay tonight.” 

 

Lance peeks over the top of his book, seeing that Hunk has surrendered but has narrowed his eyes in that look only reserved for Lance that means this isn’t over, not by far. He sighs in response and runs a hand through his messy hobbit hair he’s got going on today, grabbing his backpack off the back of the uncomfortable library chair. 

 

“Yeah, I need a break.” _ I always need a break. _ Lance spins around, stumbling a little from the weight of his backpack on one shoulder and immediately wishes he hadn’t.

 

“Ewww, look there’s Ms. Kaltenecker, 6 o’ clock.” He whines while he makes a face that would make his three year old sister proud.

  
  


“Yeah, I know, that’s why we’re leaving before you can cause trouble. But, I still don’t get why you hate her so much. You loved her last year.” Hunk shoulders his backpack and starts walking towards the doors, herding his friend out protectively. For Lance or the librarian he doesn’t know.

 

“That was before she sabotaged me, Hunk! She’s clearly evil, she’s just hiding it under that cute old lady librarian bit.” 

 

“Dude, librarians don’t just sabotage tired college kids. They’ve got books and stuff to sort through. She spends all her time collecting those cute little cow decorations for her desk. She even used to give you those old people candies when you came in!” 

 

“The cows are weird, Hunk, who even likes cows that much?” He shrieks a little too loudly, the brilliant tone of his voice ricocheting off the marble walls of the library exterior, turning several heads. 

 

“Lan-”

 

“Evil I tell you!” 

  
  


They’re still chatting about weird college professors through the afternoon and later at the cafeteria with Pidge joining into the conversation. It seems that their computer science teachers win out over everyone for oddest bunch of people. It really explains a lot about Pidge. 

 

By the time the group is finishing off their last bites of dinner, they can’t help but notice that the last quarter of their bunch has yet to make an appearance. Keith may be quiet and he certainly dominates way less of the conversation than Lance normally does, but he always contributes some kind of....interesting points to the chatter.

 

“Where’s Keith? I thought he said the cafeteria’s spaghetti was one of the only remotely edible things they make?” Pidge asks, polishing off a piece of buttered bread and accidentally smearing butter across their glasses when they get too ambitious with the bite.

 

“Jesus, Hunk can I borrow a napkin?”

 

“Sure thing.” As he passes the napkin he and Pidge share a concerned glance over at Lance, worriedly scrolling through his phone. 

 

“Lance? Buddy, earth to Lance?” 

 

Lance looks up from his phone, a little guilty looking. 

 

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?” He tucks his phone back in his pocket and continues to pick at his spaghetti.

 

“Nothing. We were just asking where Keith is. He’s MIA at pasta night.”

 

“Oh. Yeah, I really don’t know. I just texted him but he didn’t answer yet. He was kinda grumpy this morning and then he said he had stuff to do after class. I didn’t press him about it.” He mumbles from under the hand pressed against his chin.

 

“Hm, maybe he doesn’t feel well. Keith seems like the type to pretend he’s not sick until he’s literally dying.” Pidge offers

 

“Sound familiar.” Hunk mumbles, nudging Lance in the shin underneath the table.

 

“I don’t do that!” 

 

“Uhh, yeah you do, you just milk the attention after we’ve found out you’re sick.” 

 

“Whatever. He could just tell me he’s not feeling well instead of being an edgy grump about it.” Lance pushes his bowl away, pasta night isn’t the same without Keith and his weird unexpected knowledge about making perfect noodles. Italian, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, he knows all the noodles. Another one of Keith’s strange pockets of knowledge that Lance finds inexplicably endearing. He could watch that boy talk ramen for hours. 

 

“Go check on him after dinner. Bring him some food too, as a precaution in case he gets snippy.” 

 

Pidge makes little raptor noises for the rest of dinner. 

 

Lance heads back to the dorms on his own, a takeout carrier of pasta bolognese in his hands. He’d been a little peeved when Keith grumpily told him he’d just meet in class this morning instead of their usual walk down together. Then he was slightly concerned when Keith said he had stuff to do after class and couldn’t hang out. Now he’s somewhere in between but mostly confused. What could he possibly have to do? They have the same classes except math and Hunk wasn’t freaking out about Calculus at their study session. It’s fine if he wants some Keith time, everyone needs space, that’s when Lance has spa sessions, but he could just say something. It’s not like some big surprise that Keith is a smidgen more introverted than Lance, or Hunk and Pidge for that matter. They would totally understand if he needed a day. He seemed okay earlier on in the week after returning from Thanksgiving. A little quiet, but Lance just assumed he was tired out from the trip. Now it’s Friday and nothing seems to have changed for better, maybe slightly for the worst, if Keith being absent at dinner says anything, hence the slight pout forming on Lance’s face as he heads back to his dorm. 

 

As he gets closer to the dorm, hugging his baggy sweatshirt tighter to his body under the chill of the evening’s breeze, he decides he’s not going to press Keith on anything, not ask too many questions. People are allowed to have down days, he knows that all too well. He’s just going to be a good boyfriend and make sure he’s okay. And if being okay involves Keith needing alone time, Lance will give it to him. He’s still trying to learn the way Keith’s mind works, he’s still painstakingly far from writing the manual, but he knows he’d definitely like to eventually. He wants all the answers to Keith, what makes him tick, what makes his personality shift so fast from blazing fire to the ashes that hide away afterwards under the rubble. He wants to know it all, just like he hopes Keith will do for him. That’s...all in due time, though.  The first step, carbs, his winning smile and some patience.

 

He knocks as quietly as possible in case Keith’s taking a nap or doing homework or something. 

 

“Keith, are you in there? I brought you food?” He’s pretty sure he can hear shuffling from behind the door, which is a good sign. At least he didn’t wake him up from a nap, that’s never fun. 

 

The door opens slightly, the narrow slit offering a view of tangled dark tresses and heavy eyes looking up into Lance’s. It takes Keith a moment to fully register Lance standing outside his door before he opens the door all the way and nods for Lance to come in. It’s not totally out of the ordinary for them to communicate silently for a few minutes. It alleviates Lance’s need to babble incessantly and Keith’s tendency to open all conversations with something unintentionally surly or annoyed. 

 

The room is dark, only soft orange light is trickling in behind the dark gray curtains Keith bought, one of the few things in his dorm that he actually decorated with. The bed is messy, a Keith sized imprint in the sheets revealing that he was indeed napping or dozing before Lance came in. He almost feels bad for disturbing the boy if he really was that tired, but he feels better knowing he brought food to make up for it. 

 

He turns back around to Keith who is grabbing a bottle of water from the pack on top of his desk. His boyfriend pops it open and offers Lance a sip but he shakes his head and wraps his arms around Keith instead. It’s slightly awkward because Lance is holding a container of spaghetti and Keith is struggling to take a sip of water when his arm is trapped under Lance’s, but it’s warm and cozy nonetheless. 

 

“Hmmm, warm.” Lance mumbles into Keith’s shoulder.

 

“You’re cold. Quit trying to absorb my warmth.” Keith huffs, but puts up little fight. He tries his best to scuffle over to the nightstand.

 

“Mmm, I think i’m gonna stay right here.”

 

“Is this all you came here for, or was there something else more... important?”

 

“Keith! Babe! The nerve, the slander, how could you say that to your favorite person on this beautiful, cosmic speck of dirt?” 

 

“Eloquently dramatic as usual.” Keith hums deep in his throat like he’s almost considering saying something sweet. Instead he settles for something inherently Keith-like. “Wasn’t that difficult really. You make the insults roll off the tongue.” 

 

“I’m gonna forgive you because you were just taking a nap and you’re experiencing a pasta withdraw but I expect royal treatment after I help you with your addiction.” He pulls the takeout carrier from behind his back and holds it out for Keith. 

 

“My what?” Keith takes the container with a perplexed expression.

 

“Here. Spaghetti. You missed dinner so I brought some back for you.”

 

“Oh. Thanks. Sorry, I forgot about dinner?” He sits back on the bed, tucking his feet under him and popping the container open, grabbing a piece of garlic bread the second he sees it. Lance finds it unfairly cute how much Keith reminds him of a small, feisty mammal from the big eyes to the messy hair to nibbling on garlic bread like a chipmunk. He also finds it mildly disturbing that he now considers that as criteria for boyfriend material, but that’s for future Lance to figure out.

 

Lance kicks off his shoes and sits down next to him, stretching dramatically into Keith’s pillows.

 

“You mean you forgot to come to dinner, or you forgot that dinner was a thing that happened.” He presses a foot into Keith’s thigh, wiggling his toes which have a Transformer face on the sock.

 

Keith gives him a look but quickly goes back to his spaghetti. “If I say both is that more or less concerning for you?”

 

“Definitely more.” He answers with a half-joking tone. “But really, we figured if you missed pasta night you must be swamped so I just thought i’d bring those good carbohydrates to you, on one condition.” He tries to pull the dish from Keith’s little hands.

 

He also almost gets a plastic fork to the main artery in his hand.

 

“And what would that be?” Keith plays along, slumping a little closer to Lance.

 

Lance gets momentarily distracted by Keith’s face inching closer to his, those dark indigo eyes drawing him in like they do everyday, always the same celestial orbs pulling him in but getting prettier each day.

 

“Lance?” Keith backs a little away.  _ No, not yet. _

 

“Uh, what?”

 

“You didn’t tell me your condition even though i’m gonna eat this anyway.” Keith slurps a noodle right in front of his face to prove his point. 

 

“Oh. uh yeah. Noodle facts!” Lance perks back up out of his momentary daze.

 

“Noodle facts?”

 

“Yeah, you didn’t think I was friends with you for your good looks and charm did you, lay some noodle facts on me…unless  _ Udon-t _ have anymore left to tell me.” He sports his most charming grin and bats his eyelashes a couple times for good measure. 

 

“You’re such a dork. Don’t insult me with that horrible pun.” 

 

“Impastable! My puns are great!” 

 

Keith seems to consider this for a few moments before laying back against the headboard and getting more comfortable. As he’s twirling another bite around his fork he gets smug grin on his face.

 

“ _ Pho _ your information, I never run out of pasta facts.” And that is when Lance knows he fucked up because if he thought he liked Keith best when he sat there and let Lance ramble to him for hours about useless facts and childhood ridiculousness, he likes him infinitely more when Keith plays along. Keith making a pun has the combined effect of a sweet lullaby serenading his bones to honey and a spicy latin number moving through his body with whispered dirty talk. It’s all music to his ears. 

 

Lance just freezes, staring at Keith with some mixture of confusion and adoration on his face for an unquantifiable amount of time before he breaks out with quite possibly the biggest, toothiest grin his face is capable of. 

 

“Keith, you didn’t just say that!” He rips the bowl out of Keith’s hands and puts it on the bedside table so he can properly strangle his boyfriend with love.

 

“Lance-Ha” Keith tries in between uncontrollable laughter as Lance shakes his shoulders and tickles his ribs.

 

“Lance-stop it was just a stupid p-pun…HAH GET OFF!”  He tries pushing Lance off but those long awkward limbs come in handy at times like these so Lance tortures him for a few more minutes before nonchalantly sliding off his lap, booping his nose and sitting back against the wall.

 

“Ass. Give me back my food.” Keith plasters back on his grumpy-pout face mask, hindered only slightly by the smallest hint of a smile you’d miss if you blinked.

 

“Yeah, sure but you have to admit I had every right to be shocked. That was a never before seen, ultra rare, platinum edition, Legendary Keith that I just unwrapped and i’m going to cherish it forever.”

 

“I’m not a Pokemon.”

 

“You are exactly like a rare pokemon Keith, hides in small, dark places, hard to find, likes to fight. Although, I promise I won’t sell you on ebay or give you to all my little cousins without permission like my Mama did.”

 

“Ooh, i’ve struck a sore spot.” He teases. “So noodle facts...Did you know that if you ate Ramen for every meal for a year, it would only cost about $140, hence why it’s broke college student gold in a cup.”

  
  
  


\-----

  
  


Lance feels lighter while he is walking the few steps back to his dorm room. He’s always hated when he can’t figure out why other people are feeling a certain way. Maybe it’s some kind of compensation for his loose grasp on his own emotions and thoughts, but he’s always prided himself on being able to read other people and well, Keith has always tested that ability and he’s certainly putting it to the test again with the drastic mood shift between last week and now. Today though, Lance is performing a decent job at not dwelling on the things he can’t control and it’s doing a world of good. He said goodbye to Keith with a sweet kiss and a promise from the other to go find good ramen in town with everyone tomorrow because now that the idea has been planted, he needs it in his life. He likes the feeling of living in the moment more with his own feelings, it makes him feel like the little boy that used to sneak out to the beach just to feel alive, of the boy that would throw himself at the world without a care. He hasn’t really been that boy in a while.

 

When he enters his own room, Hunk is sitting on his bed smiling at his phone. Lance almost completely dips out of his contemplation to smack a feral grin on his face at the sight of his best friend obviously pining over a text of some sort. They’ve known each other way too long for either of them to even bother trying to conceal juicy secrets and Lance immediately goes through his internal checklist of Hunk faces, concluding that the current one is the ‘oh god she’s cute,’ goofy smile. 

 

He saunters over to the bed, casually sitting down and stretching so his feet dangle off the bed and his elbows are against Hunk’s back, the perfect position to properly sneak a peek at the phone in Hunk’s hands. 

 

“Hey Hunky Monkey, how’s it goin? Who ya texting?” He wiggles his eyebrows and tries to squirm a little closer to catch a glimpse at the top of the screen.

 

Too bad their telepathy is a two way street and Hunk knows what Lance is up to three steps before he even does anything. He yanks the phone closer to his chest.

 

“No one. How was Keith’s?” His phone buzzes again and he shoots it a betrayed expression like a little kid watching the ice cream truck drive right past their street.

 

“Ah-ah Aaaah.” Lance makes grabby hands towards Hunk’s curled up hand. 

 

“No changing the subject. Keith and I need someone to double date with so who’s the lucky lady?”

 

“Lance, it’s not like that okay, it’s just a friend that sent me something funny. Quite being a drama queen. Plus, Keith is never gonna wanna go on a double date with me and Shay-dammit.”

 

Lance bounces on the bed in delight. He didn’t even have to resort to bribery or shameless praises to get the truth this time. 

 

“Oooooohh so it is Shay, Calculus goddess of your dreams, huh?”

 

“Bro, don’t get ahead of yourself. She just asked to study for finals coming up because she is in fact, not a Calculus goddess. She’s a geology major but her dad kid of forced her to take as much math as possible.” Hunk peeks back down at his phone and his dark brown eyes absolutely glisten. Lance can’t help but feel just as, if not more excited than Hunk for the study date to go well. 

 

“Awww, how cute! Okay, okay I won’t jinx it. Just know I am super pumped for you and I will do everything in my power to have the next date be the real thing.” 

 

He ends up with his head on Hunk’s legs, quietly twiddling his fingers and thinking while Hunk is still texting above him. 

 

“Plus, we both know who is the real Calculus goddess in the friend group. Well, besides Pidge but they’re more a little Calculus troll than a deity.” 

 

“Truth. Sooooo...wanna help me with my Calc homework so I can impress Shay?”

 

“More than anything, bro.”

  
  


\-----

  
  


They’re on their way to go get ramen two days later when everyone has a few minutes to spare for lunch. If college has taught Lance anything it’s that finals is not so much the thing to dread, but the two weeks prior to them when you’re in a constant state of exhaustion by studying, or guilt and anxiety because you’re not studying. The day of the final is actually the relief, and turning that paper in for the professor sitting at the front of the lecture hall, looking them in the eyes one last time with either fondness or deep seeded hatred, that’s one of the best damn feelings in the world. He’s been trying to study as hard as possible this past week because he knows when it gets closer to the holiday break he won’t be able to concentrate on much. But, Lance can only take so much of one activity before his body starts to revolt against his brain and demand a change of pace.

 

Lance and Hunk practically have to drag Keith and Pidge out of the dorm building despite the fact that Keith promised the lunch date in the first place. A lot changes in two days in college, you can make an enemy, seduce a lover, embarrass yourself irreversibly in front of an entire frat house (not that Lance knows anything about that, he just heard it has happened to a friend of a friend...probably), or you could get assigned a project that’s worth thirty percent of your grade and was ‘in the syllabus since the beginning of the semester (hint: it wasn’t), two weeks before the semester ends. 

Long story short, Pidge was almost thirty hours into a coding breakthrough and Keith was staring daggers into his group lab report for physics that he had to do almost entirely by himself when they found them in their respective rooms. Hunk took care of Keith stating that no way was Lance gonna be able to sweet talk him away from his report and despite Keith’s small stature, he’s heavier than he looks, heavy enough that Lance doesn’t want to risk dropping him and really seeing the wrath of Keith. Lance is also highly experienced with peeling smaller siblings away from his stuff, so with some sneaky maneuvers and a little coaxing à la sour patch kids (and only a few bruises) he managed to get them away from the computer for a bit.

 

“I’m so excited for this food man, I feel ashamed at how many diner chicken nuggets i’ve consumed in the past week.” Lance giggles, now bouncing down the street with Pidge hanging on his back. The one condition on coming with them, ‘Fine, i’ll come but i’m not walking the thirty minutes there.’

 

Pidge’s arms around Lance’s neck tighten, “Quit jumping around, i’m gonna fall.”

 

“Well you’re the one that trusted me to carry you so take what you can get.” He continues down the sidewalk, jumping over the cracks between each slab. He’s been inside all week, he’s got a lot of energy. Well, more than usual. 

 

Keith and Hunk follow a few paces behind them, Hunk chuckling at his friend’s antic while Keith hides in his hoodie and takes his brooding up to an eleven, pulling his phone out of his hoodie every few minutes and glaring at as if it just told him the only way to get an A on his final is by doing the macarena in front of the whole classroom. Hunk tries not to look too concerned but he can’t help glancing every few minutes in hopes Keith looks peppier.

 

The ramen shop is small, tucked away in between a creepy laundr-o-mat and a hair salon straight out of the 60s, but it’s bustling with the activity of a Manhattan pizza shop. People leave in large groups of businessmen, students, families, all with the same faces of pure, satiated food bliss, and then more people jam themselves into the store. Luckily, Lance called a few hours ahead so his delicate to the sun, bat cave friends could eat inside. 

 

They find the host among the sea of people and are seated, handed menus, deciding how much food they can reasonably order. Keith and Lance are squashed in one side of the booth, touching from shoulder to hips to Lance’s jittering ankle rapping on Keith’s every few seconds.Hunk and Pidge are even more so crammed on the other side of the booth but they’re pretty used to squeezing close together on the bean bag chairs so it’s all kosher. 

 

“Babe, if I get dumplings as a side, you wanna share them?” Lance leans over Keith’s shoulder, pointing them out on the menu. 

 

Keith isn’t even looking at the menu, he’s heavily focused on something on his phone that’s tucked on his lap under the table. Lance looks up from the phone back to his face and notices how out of it he looks, his face is pale and his eyes are slightly glazed over, he looks vaguely unsettled and sad, but mostly just detached. 

 

“Keith, babe, you okay?” He speaks quietly, even though the restaurant is pretty loud and Hunk and Pidge are arguing about something on the menu on the other side of the booth. 

 

Keith jolts and tucks his phone back into his pocket. “Hmm, sorry what was that?” His eyes are slightly red and feral looking from behind the curtain of wavy hair hanging before them.

 

“I asked if you were okay, you were glaring at your phone.” Lance lifts his hand to tuck some of the hair behind Keith’s ear.

 

“Oh.” Keith squirms in his seat. “ Yeah-I just... my stupid physics team keeps messaging me in our group chat, and I don’t really wanna hear their bullshit anymore. They’re trying to make it seem like they’re doing work by talking about it when i’m the one doing everything so....” 

 

“Uh, what’re you gonna get?” He changes the subject and Lance can’t help but feel like _ he _ totally is not done with the conversation because normally Keith would be more fired up about his incompetent lab partners but he’s not gonna ask more right now.

 

“I was gonna get the special but I was asking if you wanted to get some dumplings to share?” He offers and gives Keith a look that he hopes says, ‘i’m giving you an out right now but i’m gonna heckle you more later about it.’

 

Keith pointedly looks back down to the menu. 

 

“Yeah sure, I think i’ll get the same thing too.” He decides and pushes Lance out of the seat a bit with his thigh, fumbling to get out of his leather jacket because it is hella hot in this tiny place. 

 

And yeah, Keith knows exactly what he’s doing because the minute he takes that jacket off and reveals this burgundy henley that is illegally tight in some places, and then loose around his pale collar bone, Lance completely forgets what they were even talking about a minute before.  _ Damn Keith and his seductress skills, he’s totally playing illegal moves. _

 

“ Ay,  _ guapo _ why have you never worn that shirt before?” Lance speaks heavy tongued with absolutely no impulse control as he eyes up his boyfriend who is sitting next to him in the booth, totally aloof.

 

“Ay dumbass, no drooling over the table!” Pidge shouts from their seat, smacking Lance on the head with the menu.

 

The waitress saves them all from making a scene, which is great because they all know what happens any time Lance and Pidge make a scene at a business establishment. 

 

The meal leaves Lance’s body warm and his brain blissfully swaddled by a blanket of whatever that sweet magic ramen has spun into its dough and ladled out in the rich broth. Pidge all but passes out on Hunk’s back for the trek back to campus and Keith quietly lets Lance guide him forwards with an arm around his shoulder. He seems tired now, whatever fight he was putting up earlier is reduced to exhaustion. He hasn’t touched his phone again since Lance mentioned it so that either means Keith has literally given up on the fight or he is choosing to ignore it right now in front of his friends. 

 

Lance feels kind of guilty about the whole matter now that he sees it up close, as he practically pushes Keith forward to scuffle against the sidewalk. Lance feels unequipped to handle whatever this is. He’s stressed with school work, his mind only wants to focus on select things at a time that he has no control over (things that he really can’t afford to fixate on right now), he can’t even begin to decide what to do to help, or if he even should. Did he do something wrong? Is this just something normal that Keith does every once in a while, have down periods like Lance? Why is he blowing this so out of proportion, it’s only been like a few days and finals are coming up, everyone is a mess? Keith, in the sweetest way possible is kind of always a mess of some sort. Does that reassurance do anything for him? No, not really.

 

It’s not even that Keith is drastically different from his normal mood. He’s always been quiet, always a little curt, always Keith.  It’s just details that Lance notices and has decided to obsess on in lieu of worrying about the multitude of other things he should be worrying about as a college student with one week till finals and pressing grades he needs for getting into their flight school next year. It’s like Keith but with a safety switch turned on, sending brief texts back all week instead of teasing Lance like he normally does for over sharing, his normally fierce eyes looking at everything, at Lance, with a lot less fire than usual, dipping out of anything auxiliary to what is deemed necessary. It’s all little things, miniscule parts of the tentative routine Keith and Lance have built over the last few weeks, but it all seems so big to Lance when it’s not there. It’s unrealistic to think routines and relationships can be maintained exactly the same in the outside world as they do in the little bubble that they’ve created in college, in the space of their shared classrooms, in their rooms a few doors down from each other. But it’s all they have as a basis right now, it’s all Lance has a basis for any kind of life away from home and away from his family, and as some kind of adult. Or adult in training, really. He’s not ready to take the training wheels off quite yet. 

 

Keith has obviously not said anything for a reason, but maybe he doesn’t even realize what he’s feeling. It’s hard to remove yourself and see what other people see. Maybe Lance is supposed to help him by bringing it up, but Keith doesn’t really like that kind of help, he doesn’t like being psychoanalyzed, he doesn’t like talking about his feelings he just likes acting on them. And the ones that are too intense usually seem to end in trouble or awesomeness like when he kissed Lance for the first time on impulse. That was awesome. 

 

Lance’s steps feel unsteady by the time they get back to the dorms and Pidge says goodbye, sneaking back into their lair. Hunk continues down the hall to finish some homework, figuring Lance will hang with Keith. Keith is opening up his dorm room completely oblivious to the fact that Lance’s internal hardware or software or, whatever (he never really understood computers very well), everything has exploded, it’s all gone to shit, ramen magic completely null and void, he’s in crisis mode. 

 

Why is he in crisis mode? 

 

Keith is looking up at him expectedly right now, his big purple eyes seem more of a dark grey with hints of violet when he’s tired, probably waiting for a response to something he said. 

 

Lance can’t even imagine what he looks like right now, he went from calm, personal care assistant for Keith (although he’s a little more bony than Baymax) to disaster in minutes and Keith’s watching it all unfold. He probably looks deranged. 

 

Keith quirks his eyebrow at him and presses a finger in between Lance’s own furrowed brows and for some reason he is allowed a moment of clarity long enough to separate reason from the other anxiety riddled thoughts that are swarming in circles and suffocating his thoughts. 

 

He cares about Keith.

 

That’s what it boils down to. Lance cares about Keith. He doesn’t want Keith to be different. He doesn’t want this chiseled down version of Keith he’s been experiencing the past few days because he knows what Keith looks like when he’s happy and alive, he saw it last week, and he, he liked it a lot, he loved seeing him that way. Seeing Keith feel comfortable with Lance and with his family made Lance feel alive in a way he never thought he’d feel again and he can’t stand to lose that. And now, he feels it slipping away in every little noticeable way Keith pulls back for unexplained reasons and it’s breaking Lance apart. 

 

He tries to think about when Keith, this polar opposite kind of person from Lance, this boy, the first boy Lance ever really felt any kind of way about other than raw attraction, someone who let Lance come crashing into his life, gained so much power over Lance’s state of being. It’s hard to fathom how Lance let that happen, and even more how Keith gave him enough to let that happen. As contrived as it sounds, Keith is becoming some huge part of Lance’s world. It’s a weird thought to juggle now that he has words to describe it, and juggle is a good word for Lance and Keith’s relationship because it feels like they’re scrambling sometimes to throw all these feelings up in the air and trying to catch them cooly. He’s always been good at the smile and bow part of the show, it’s the performance part that requires a little floundering and spit and polishing. He’s finding that this manifests itself pretty well in the whole romantic relationship deal too. 

 

Lance is gonna find a way to catch Keith if he falls, to let him know he’s there when he’s ready to fall, to tell him it’s not a test of the fates to take the plunge if he’s there to hold him. If whatever this is that’s happening now is small or big, it doesn’t matter. They’ll dance their way out and hold each other’s backs and bow together under the spotlight.

 

Because Lance cares about Keith. Because if they both allow themselves to fall at the same time, he’d probably say in the height of the moment that he cares about Keith more than any piece of himself. 

 

That’s what you do when you love someone.

 

If he was falling before, he just smacked on the ground in a very undignified heap of being in love. 

 

Well, Shit. 

 

\-----

 

"-ance?" Keith tries to get his attention. It's probably not the first time in the last minute or so he's done so. 

 

Lance doesn't even want to look at him right now because he'll definitely want to blurt things that really shouldn't be blurted out at this exact minute. The alternative is also asking Keith fi he's okay and that's also not the best decision he could make in his current state. 

 

He peaks down at Keith who looks very confused and tired and he decides instead of doing something _stupid_ he'll do something stupid.

 

"You know what, babe, I just remembered I have like five million due tomorrow that I completely forgot about until this exact moment so i'm just gonna go work on those right now." He stifles a very awkward laugh by biting his bottom lip and points his thumb backwards towards the door, stepping back slightly. 

Keith's eyebrows are quirked comedically and his mouth it open dropped open slowly. "O-okay..."

 

"Thanks for understanding. You're the best!" Lance essentially shouts from two steps away from Keith. 

 

He leans in presses a very slobbery kiss on Keith's cheek and bolts out the door. "Night, Keith!"

 

\-----

 

"Uh...?" Keith pokes his head out of the door seeing the hall already empty. 

 

"Goodnight, I guess." 

 

He closes the door and face plants onto the bed, covering head with a pillow that smells like ocean and coconut body splash. Maybe today really was just some weird dream. He never did get the hang of Tuesdays. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of addressing how certain internal struggles can manifest on the exterior (in Keith) and then internally (Lance). Then we switch next chapter.
> 
> \-----
> 
> So yeah, it's been a while. Besides the fact that I was very busy from March until end of May with graduating from college, I have been a lazy mofo for the last two months. 
> 
>  
> 
> However, i'm just going to try and churn out this last couple of chapters because we are almost done. Next chapter is the apex of the story and then two cute, fluff resolution chapters that you will like very much I think. 
> 
> Then I am done with this and probably going to try and write smaller, mostly fluff one shots forever because I discovered I am too indecisive with choosing plot points unless it's planned from the beginning.


	23. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> update on life, kinda

Hey everyone! I know, I know what a shocker it's taking me so long to update. I started getting kudos recently for some reason and I was like oh are people still reading this mess so I wanted to say something so you know i'm still here. Although i'm sure if you read a lot on Ao3, you've seen me in other people's comments because I read hella faster than I write. 

So I started writing the next chapter almost immediately after the last one was published and it was taking a while because it's like the big chapter before everything is resolved and it's got a lot of emotions (ewww) and I want to get it right. Then, I wanted to end with a sweet holiday chapter and a short epilogue. (and then hopefully some little one shots of their life after college because I have so many cute ideas with Lance's family and H & P and their future together)

BUT, because I take so incredibly long to motivate myself into writing finished chapters and just generally not being a useless blob, I was like you know what I don't want to do? Release that next chapter and then have people wait like another three months for the sweet fluff they really want, ya feel me? So I decided I wanted to at least try and finish most of the fic before even releasing the next chapter. It's not that angsty don't worry, but it's just resolving a bunch of loose threads I left throughout the story and they have a Moment. Anyways, that is what is happening now (t's a good thing this story was an experiment and doesn't have a big plot because that would be so frustrating to read if I just kept leaving for months) And i'm also writing another series you should check out that is domestic fluff...but in a modern space au where there is no angst. It doesn't exist lol. 

In conclusion, thank you for bearing with me. On top of actually trying to get my newly acquired adult life together, I'm also just bad at sticking to things so I give huge props to actual writers who can churn stuff out so often because you are amazing treasures and we don't deserve you. Also, being an adult sucks kids. Don't grow up. You have to go to college and then graduate and then realize you actually have to find a job. And then you have to work which is worse than all those things. So just don't do it. Stay smol. These have been wise words of encouragement from a Responsible Barely Adult.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Voltron tumblr if you want to talk to me about the fic or just Voltron/Klance in general. I also might add some art for my fic!
> 
> http://mychemicalklance.tumblr.com
> 
> See you there maybe!
> 
> \---


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